Annual Council Meeting 2018

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

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

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

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 

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

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.