Second workshop of the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum at Villa VigoniFurther perspectives on the European Unions (strategic) sovereignty and European identities

18 February 2023

Photo: UHH

From 13-15 February 2023, the second workshop of the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum took place at Villa Vigoni in Menaggio, Italy.

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 European sovereignty question was concretized based on security policy and energy policy aspects as well as specific national perspectives. This discussion was supplemented by an examination of the distinguishing features of values and religion in the context of European identity(ies). Finally, given the current political situation, the question of the extent of European citizens' sense of community - especially in the context of military alliances - was examined.

Dr Holger Niemann from the Institute for Peace and Security Research and Prof Dr Eva Heidbreder from Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg took part in a moderating role, 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 will be published at the end of 2023 as the fifth edition of the "Notes from the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum" series.