The ECFR Annual Council Meeting is one of the leading conferences on Europe’s foreign policy. We follow the energy of the debate and this year we met in Paris on 28 & 29 of May.
With the multilateral order in recession, and the emergence of a new era of great power competition, we were focusing our attention on how to defend Europe in the New World Disorder.
Our intimate forum, gathering ECFR’s Council Members once a year, stands out by retaining the intimacy and interactivity of a private club, allowing a range of high-level speakers from Europe and beyond to look creatively and practically at Europe’s long-term prospects and its role in the world.
Agenda
Monday 28 May 2018
12:45 – 12:50 Welcome
By Carl Bildt, Co-chair of the Board of ECFR
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12:50 – 13:00 Scene-Setter
By Mark Leonard, Director of ECFR
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13:00 – 13:45 Europe and the world order: ECFR’s Power Audits
Find here the ECFR Power Audits on China , Russia , Turkey and the United States .
Asli Aydintasbas, Senior Policy Felllow, ECFR
Francois Godement, Director of the Asia and China Programme, ECFR
Kadri Liik, Senior Policy Fellow, ECFR
Moderator: Mark Leonard, Director of ECFR
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13:45 – 14:45 Can Europe defend itself in a new world disorder?
Denis Mercier, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation at NATO
Arnaud Danjean, Member of the European Parliament
Norbert Röttgen, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Bundestag
Nathalie Tocci, Director of the International Affairs Institute
Moderator: Philip Stephens, Chief Political Commentator, Financial Times
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14:45 – 15:15 ECFR Keynote: The European Intervention Initiative
Speech by Florence Parly, Minister for the Armed Forces of France, on the European Intervention Initiative.
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15:40 – 16:40 Breakout sessions in parallel
China: The last hope for multilateralism?
Mathieu Duchatel, Senior Policy Fellow at ECFR
Steven Everts, Senior Advisor at EEAS
Ana Palacio, Member of the Spanish Council of State and former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Moderator: Almut Moeller, Head of ECFR Berlin Office
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Rethinking cooperation with Libya and the Sahel in an age of migration and populism
Mary Fitzgerald, Libya Specialist
Bert Koenders, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
Andrew Lebovich, Visiting Fellow at ECFR
Pierre Vimont, former Secretary General at EEAS
Moderator: Alessandra Galloni, Global News Editor at Reuters
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16:45 – 17:45 Can Europe be the saviour of the liberal order?
Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies, University of Oxford
John Ikenberry, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
Karolina Wigura, Member of the Board, Kultura Liberalna Foundation
Moderator: Sylvie Kauffmann, Editorial Director at Le Monde
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17:45 – 18:45 Saudi Arabia and Iran as the new decisive frontline in the Middle East
Abdel Aziz Abu Hamad Aluwaisheg, Assistant Secretary General for Political and Negoatiation Affairs, GCC
Bassma Kodmani, Execeutive Director, Arab Reform Initiative
Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Former Iranian Ambassador and Foreign Policy Advisor to the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council
Justin Vaïsse, Director of Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France
Moderator: Julien Barnes-Dacey, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, ECFR
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Tuesday 29 May 2018
09:00 – 09:30 ECFR Keynote: How to save the European Union.
Speech by George Soros, Founder and Chair of Open Society Foundations
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09:30 – 10:00 Western Balkans: The EU and great power competition
Aleksander Vučić, President of Serbia
Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania
Radmila Šekerinska, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of Macedonia
Michael Roth, Minister of State for Europe, Federal Republic of Germany
Moderator: Vessela Tcherneva, Deputy Director of Advocacy and Programmes at ECFR
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10:30 – 11:30 EU on Russia/Ukraine: Time to move beyond sanctions?
Lina Linkevicius, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania
Nicu Popescu, Senior Analyst, EUISS
Hannes Swoboda, Former President of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, European Parliament
Moderator: Christine Ockrent, Presenter of Affaires Etrangeres, France Culture
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11:50 – 12:50 Breakout sessions in parallel
Reviewing Europe’s foreign, security and development policy in light of MFF budget discussions
Valerie Amos, Director at SOAS, University of London
Ales Chmelar, State Secretary for Foreign Affirs, Office of the Government of the Czech Republic
Shahin Vallee, Senior Economist at Soros Fund Management
Moderator: Susi Dennsion, Director of European Power Programme at ECFR
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The attack on the non-proliferation order: The cases of Iran and North Korea
Nicolas de Riviere, Director General for Political Affairs and Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France
Eran Etzion, Policy Entrepreneur and former Deputy Head of National Security Council of Israel
Ellie Geranmayeh, Senior Policy Fellow at ECFR
Bruno Tertrais, Deputy Director, Foundation pour la recherche strategique
Moderator: Delphine O, Foreign Affairs Committee, Assemblee Nationale
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The digital revolution: Disrupting politics, economics, war and foreign policy
Berit Anderson, CEO and Editor-in-Chief at Scout.ai
Anthony Giddens, Life Fellow at University of Cambridge
Alexander Klimburg, Director Cyber Policy and Resilience Prgramme, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies
Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation, University of Oxford
Moderator: Ulrike Franke, Policy Fellow at ECFR
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13:00 – 14:00 “La Grande Marche” at the Parliament elections: Opportunity for change in 2019?
Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade, Member of Assemblee Nationale
Gordon Bajnai, former Prime Minister of Hungary
Diana Janse, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, Swedish Moderate Party
Moderator: Tom Nuttall, Charlemagne Columnist, The Economist
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You can find photos from the ACM 2018 on our Flickr page .