Hamburg-Vigoni Talks – #5 From the white paper to the 'Conference on the Future of Europe'with Prof Dr Armin Hatje and Prof Dr Eva Heidbreder

8 December 2020

In the fifth Hamburg-Vigoni Talk, Prof. Dr. Armin Hatje and Prof. Dr. Eva Heidbreder traced the debate on the institutional future of Europe. Armin Hatje is a professor of public law and European law at the University of Hamburg. He is also, among other roles, the chairman of the Scientific Society for European Law and a co-editor of various commentaries and an encyclopedia on European law. Eva Heidbreder is a professor of political science with a focus on governance in the European multi-level system at Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg.

The debate on the institutional future of the EU has been reignited, particularly since the referendum on the UK's exit from the EU. Armin Hatje and Eva Heidbreder collectively placed recent events in context, beginning with an analysis of the 2017 White Paper. Referring to the recently initiated 'Conference on the Future of Europe,' they predicted potential outcomes of this newly launched process.

The "Hamburg-Vigoni Talks" is a discussion format within the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum. The series aims to relate the thematic focuses of the forum - space, sovereignty, and identity - to current political topics and further promote the desired connection between politics and research. The intention is not a theoretical discussion of complex topoi but rather an accessible discussion of their actual significance in political practice.

The conversations primarily take place among the scientists from the organizing institutions of the forum and are conducted in an interdisciplinary manner. To avoid a monoperspective view, the circle of speakers is not limited to the academic field but occasionally includes individuals with practical political backgrounds.