W. Th. Wessels
Future of the European Integration | |
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25 October 2006 16h30-18h30 CET |
Biography
Prof. Wessels is the Jean Monnet Chairholder for Political Science at Cologne University and visiting professor at the College of Europe, Bruges and Natolin. He is further chairman of the executive board of the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Berlin and of the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) in Brussels. He is also the coordinator of EU-CONSENT, Constructing Europe Network (Cologne). In the past decade, he has lectured at the Europa College in Bruges and Natolin and the Institut d'etudes Politique in Paris. His priorities in teaching and research include the political system of the European Union, the role of the EU in the international system, the deepening and widening of the EU, the transformation of political systems in Europe and theories about international relations and European integration. Since 1991 Prof. Wessels has also co-edited the "Jahrbuch der Europaischen Union" and the "Europa von A-Z. Taschenbuch der europaischen Integration". He earned his doctorate in political science at the University of Cologne and in 1990 he received the Venia legendi in Political Science of the University of Bonn.
Abstract
Widening and Deepening of the European Union after the Constitutional Treaty - Strategies and Scenarios of European Integration" The current ratification crisis has put the future of the European Integration to question. The leading question is how to go on with or without the Constitutional Treaty? In general, the academic debate on the options for the future of the European Union can be divided in two categories: those who want to hold on to the Constitutional Treaty and those who are in favour of discarding the idea of a Constitution for Europe all together. The first part of the lecture imparts the basics of theories and strategies of European Integration. The second part is targeted to analyze the actual options for the future of the European Integration within the context of Germany's Presidency of the Council of the European Union.