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Exploring EU’s continuing challenges
The ongoing challenge of uniting 27 nations, both politically and socially, into a cohesive European Union is the subject of a major interdisciplinary conference being held today and tomorrow at the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, UB Law School.
The conference, titled “Realizing Europe: The Lisbon Treaty in Perspective,” will address aspects of the 2009 treaty that significantly changed the governance of the EU, an international organization that encompasses more than 500 million citizens of Europe. It will cover such issues as EU citizenship, immigration, education, science and technology, law, cultural policy and federalism.
“Realizing Europe” is the first major presentation of the Center for European Studies, a new center in the College of Arts and Sciences directed by cultural anthropologist Deborah Reed-Danahay, professor of anthropology and principal organizer of the conference. Also assisting in the conference are Michael Halberstam, associate professor of law, and Vasiliki Neofotistos, assistant professor of anthropology.
“We wanted to start a conversation, both here at the university and with the wider Buffalo-Niagara community, about issues related to the future of Europe and its political, legal, economic and social implications," says Reed-Danahay. “The EU is a project that is still in process and still being realized.”
The conference addresses both the EU’s evolving political organization and the organization’s “social project,” which encourages citizens of its member nations to think of themselves broadly as Europeans who share a common identity with others living in Europe. Symbols such as the EU flag and anthem are meant to foster this sense of belonging. Reed-Danahay has done research in French primary schools on efforts to guide young pupils to buy into the idea that they are Europeans, not just French citizens.
“For anyone engaged in transactions, international trade or international institutions, EU law is important,” says Halberstam. “Increasingly, EU law is becoming part of the Law School curriculum.”
EU law is a separate field from international law, Halberstam explains. “It can have a great impact on corporate transactions,” he says. “It’s a very complicated field, given that EU law is superimposed and interacts with different national legal regimes, both civil law regimes and common law regimes.”
In addition to the organizers, presenters at the conference include:
- Rodolphe Gasche, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Eugenio Donato Professor in the UB Department of Comparative Literature.
- Daniel Halberstam, Eric Stein Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School.
- Alexander Somek, Charles E. Floete Chair in Law at University of Iowa College of Law.
- Hans de Wit, professor of internationalization in the School of Economics and Management of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences.
- Catherine Neveu, director of research at the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, in Paris.
- Aires Soares, minister-counselor and head of science, technology and education for the European Union delegation in Washington, D.C.
- Anne-Marie Thiesse, director of research at the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, in Paris.
- Wolfgang Wolck, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the UB Department of Linguistics.
For more information about the conference, visit the conference website.
The Center for European Studies, which opened in May 2010, is devoted to research and intellectual exchange among faculty and students on political, cultural and social transformations of contemporary Europe, as well as Europe’s multiple historical traditions and close connections to North America. The center encourages the creation of networks across disciplinary and geographic boundaries, as well as collaboration with other area universities and colleges, and develops partnerships with both European and North American programs in European studies.
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