Second workshop at Villa Vigoni - Identity and Sovereignty

The second workshop of the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum took place from February 13-15, 2023 at Villa Vigoni in Menaggio, Italy. The event took place over the course of three days.

Building on the first workshop in October 2021, in which the questions of the topoi of identity and sovereignty were jointly explored, contoured and contextualized, the second workshop was dedicated to specific sub-areas of these:  The question of European sovereignty was concretized on the basis of aspects of security policy and energy policy as well as specific national perspectives. The discussion was supplemented by an examination of the distinguishing features of values and religion in the context of European identities. Finally, in view of the current political situation, the question of the extent of European citizens' sense of community - especially in the context of military alliances - was examined.

In a moderating role, the panel included Dr. Holger Niemann from the Institute for Peace and Security Research and Prof. Dr. Eva Heidbreder from Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, as well as Prof. Dr. Tilman Repgen, Prof. Dr. Cord Jakobeit, Prof. Dr. Stefan Oeter and Prof. Dr. Markus Kotzur, the scientific director of the format, from the University of Hamburg.

Michele Valensise (President of Villa Vigoni), Dr. Antonio Tanca (former Head of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union), Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs (Vice-Chair of the European Environment and Sustainability Development Council), Silvia Fregolent (Member of the Senate of the Republic of Italy), Prof. Dr. Adrian Favell (University College Cork), Prof. Dr. Tomasz Koncewicz (Professor of European and Comparative Law at the University of Gdansk), Dr. Regula Zwahlen Guth (University of Freiburg) and Dr. Roberto Luppi (Research Fellow at the Europa-Kolleg Hamburg) enriched the discussions with instructive keynote speeches. The panels were complemented by presentations from Prof. Dr. h.c. Angelika Nußberger (former judge and Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights) and Prof. Dr. hc. Aleida Assmann (literary and cultural scientist).

The substantive results of the productive and constructive discussions are published in the fifth edition of the publication series "Notes from the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum".