‘IN CONVERSATION’ with Professor Jan Zielonka (Professor of European Politics, University of Oxford) – “The EU after the Crisis”

The European Union was widely regarded as the most successful modern integration project, but recently it experienced a profound crisis. The EU promised to secure prosperity through integration, but it became a symbol of austerity and conflict. It obtained ever-more powers at the expense of national parliaments and governments but when the global financial crisis erupted it proved unable to cope with the social and political disruption that ensued.  Powerful shocks spread from the sky-scrapers of Manhattan, Canary Wharf and la Défense to the corridors of Brussels and to ordinary households across Europe. No wonder so many citizens lost trust in the EU, and that the process of disintegration is gathering pace. But is this decline reversible? Can Europe return to the path of integration under the tutelage of the EU and, if so, would that even be desirable?  Jan Zielonka, Professor of European Politics at the University of Oxford, will address these questions in his lecture. He will argue that despite the protracted problems of the EU, Europe as an integrated entity will grow stronger. Integration, he contends, will continue apace because of European states’ profound economic interdependence, historic ties and the need for political pragmatism. A revitalized Europe led by major cities, regions and powerful NGOs will emerge in which a new type of continental solidarity can flourish.