Kick-off meeting for the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum

21 July 2020

On July 21, 2020, the heads of three of the four institutions involved in the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum met for a digital kick-off meeting. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Lenzen (President of Universität Hamburg), Dr. Christiane Liermann Traniello (Secretary General of Villa Vigoni) and Prof. Dr. Markus Kotzur (President of the Europa-Kolleg Hamburg) gave insights into the vision behind the format.

The Hamburg-Vigoni Forum aims to bring research and politics together in an innovative way. The focus is less on detailed questions of day-to-day politics and more on an overall concept of integration policy: "Space - Sovereignty - Identity", the narratives of integration and disintegration that are familiar but not yet sufficiently scrutinized in terms of their relevance for concrete European policy concepts for the future. Scientifically reflected and theoretically informed, the aim is to provide policy-makers with interpretations to explain Europe in terms of where it comes from and where it is going, to make it more tangible for citizens and to make it tangible in their everyday reality.

To this end, the University of Hamburg has joined forces with the Europa-Kolleg Hamburg, the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy and Villa Vigoni as part of its European strategy as a University of Excellence in order to stimulate a constructive European policy discourse with the participation of leading academics.