European Institute

On Tuesday May 10, The European Institute hosted The Honorable Tomáš Prouza, State Secretary for European Affairs of the Czech Republic.  Mr. Prouza gave his assessment of the challenges facing Europe today including the United Kingdom’s upcoming referendum on EU membership, the refugee crisis and the security threat posed by an increasingly assertive Russia.  While acknowledging growing nationalism and Euroscepticism, Mr. Prouza encouraged Member States to strengthen integration: “I am convinced that only when we stay united and when we work together to find common solutions will Europe stay strong.”  His full remarks can be found here.

On October 5, 2015, The Honorable Stefan Selig, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade offered his assessment of the current status the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. Rebuffing concerns that the talks had reached an impasse, Under Secretary Selig pointed out that the most complicated agreements are always marathons, not sprints, and that negotiators are currently tackling specifics in some of the toughest chapters, notably standards and regulations. Neither the US nor the EU, he added, can achieve long term economic growth, that  is both robust and sustainable, without optimizing the transatlantic trade partnership.  “TTIP is not ONLY an opportunity to reinforce the Trans-Atlantic relationship. It is an opportunity to reinforce the very principles that this relationship were built upon.”

Click here to read Under Secretary Selig's remarks.

On November 4, 2015, The European Institute hosted a breakfast discussion with The Honorable Timothy Kirkhope, rapporteur for the relocation of refugees on the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs and the Conservative Party’s spokesman on Justice and Home Affairs at the European Parliament.  Mr. Kirkhope assessed the Syrian refugee crisis, and stated that a “firm but fair” approach to the situation was needed to maintain order and stability. Mr. Kirkhope also stressed the need for the EU to allocate additional resources to member states with external borders of the EU in order to help them accommodate the flood of new arrivals, while bolstering the availability of legal channels through which refugees can make formal applications for asylum within Europe.

On August 3, 2015, The European Institute held a breakfast discussion on the European Union’s Digital Single Market Strategy with Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications & Information Policy; Andrea Glorioso, Counselor for the Digital Agenda & ICT at the Delegation of the European Union; and Marie Royce, Vice President Public Affairs at Alcatel-Lucent. Thorough conversations with stakeholders are underway on the 16 initiatives of the strategy, which places digital technologies at the forefront of the EU's push for sustainable and competitive economic growth. While the panelists lauded the strategy overall, differing approaches on a range of issues such as spectrum management, copyright reforms, intermediary liability and data localization were discussed. Dr. Michael Nelson, Public Policy at CloudFlare moderated the discussion.