Review by Eva Krejčová (stagiaire au CEFRES, FF UK)

On Thursday 22th of June 2017 in the Patriotic Hall of Carolinum His Excellency Roland Galharague gave a lecture entitled: “EU: a new start?”. The lecture aimed to present the possibilities for the future development of the European Union and to engage a discussion on this matter.

The lecture was divided into two main parts. The first part discussed the present and future threats the EU faces from the outside as well as from within. Terrorist attacks, potential rise of protectionism, Brexit and migration crisis are some of the phenomena that were mentioned. However, the tone remained optimistic as H. E. Roland Galharague showed a firm belief in the capacity of the EU to find a solution to all its current and future challenges.

The second part highlighted the attraction of the EU to the rest of the world. The EU is indubitably an extremely important economic and diplomatic partner and H. E. Roland Galharague was confident about the EU maintaining its role despite the globalization and the rapidly changing everyday reality.

In conclusion, H. E. Roland Galharague presented the conditions for a new start of the European Union. He mentioned the recent political defeat of the anti-EU parties in many member states and the last European opinion polls showing the growing support for the EU since Brexit. In addition, H. E. Roland Galharague put forward the five global future directions for the EU and outlined the possible future development of the EU into a more unified international actor.

The lecture was followed by a discussion moderated by prof. Lenka Rovná, Vice-Rector for European Affairs at the Charles University. Some very accurate questions concerned the cultural role of EU, the new EU leaders and the fight against global warming.

Photo: René Volfík / FOTOREPO.cz

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