European Institute

On March 21, 2012, The European Institute, in cooperation with the European Parliament's Liaison Office to the U.S. Congress, hosted a delegation from the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) led by Vice-President Alexander Alvaro.  Vice-President Alvaro and a panel including Danny Weitzner, Deputy Chief Technology Office for Internet Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Marc Rotenberg, Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center; and Christopher Soghoian, an Open Society Foundations Fellow discussed the implications of new data protection and privacy initiatives in both the EU and U.S. and assessed the impact of these initiatives, their dividing lines and the prospects for moving towards more closely aligned privacy policies between the European Union and the United States.  The discussion was moderated by Alan Raul, Partner at Sidley Austin LLP.

On February 13, 2012, The European Institute hosted a breakfast discussion of The World Bank’s recently released assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of European economies. Indermit Gill, Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank, outlined the major findings of the compelling report: “Golden Growth: Restoring the Lustre of the European Economic Model” (available here). A panel discussion followed with Antonio de Lecea, Minister and Principal Advisor at the Delegation of the European Union; Nicolas Véron, Senior Fellow at Bruegel and Visiting Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics; and Dr. Angel Ubide, Director of Global Economics at Tudor Investment Corporation and Visiting Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

On March 7, 2012, The European Institute hosted a breakfast discussion on Germany's nuclear phase-out agenda and its commitment to renewable energy sources. R. Andreas Kraemer, Director of the Ecological Institute in Berlin, focused on the reasons behind Germany's gradual nuclear dependency reduction, as well as the process and challenges involved in the country's transition to renewable energy. A panel discussion followed with Edward McGinnis, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Nuclear Energy Policy and Cooperation at the U.S. Department of Energy and Günter Hörmandinger, Counselor for the Environment at the Delegation of the European Union, who outlined the U.S. and the EU's respective views on nuclear phase-out and alternative energy policies.

On January 20, 2012, The European Institute held a breakfast discussion of the Roundtable on Transportation and Infrastructure in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania. The panelists, which included The Honorable Eligijus Masiulis, Minister of Transport and Communications for the Republic of Lithuania; François Rivasseau, Minister-Counselor and Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union; Thomas Kelly, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Ambassador Vytautas Nauduzas, Ambassador-at-Large, Special Envoy on Transport, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Lithuania; and Dr. Eugenijus Gentvilas, Chief Executive Officer, Klaipeda State Seaport Authority discussed Lithuania’s concerted push to become a major European Transportation hub and the impact these infrastructure priorities are having on Europe's roadmap for a single european transport area as well as on the future of NATO's Northern Distribution Network.