What future for Europe?

Date(s)

11 February 2011

Time

08.00 - 15.30
Location

Bloomberg European Headquarters - London

The objective of this important one-day conference was to engage with an extensive non-partisan audience of politicians, thinkers, policymakers, media commentators and members of the public in order to evaluate the future of the European Union, while also debating the role Britain should play in shaping its identity.

The immediate future is of immense importance to the evolutionary path of the EU, as well as the role played within it by the UK, as it faces up to the challenge of how to secure the economic recovery and prevent a sustained financial crisis, not only in the Eurozone but across all member states and beyond.

In this context, the high-level conference was a unique opportunity for a discussion not only about UK-EU relations but also about the future of the Single Market, in light of Mario Monti’s report into its future development. As such, the event discussed how the new British government could construct a wider coalition of support among business for the European project.

In addition, the event sought to ascertain what sort of specific outputs the EU could offer citizens across its member states in order to increase public awareness of its work, institutions and governance, while also ascertaining how governments and businesses could benefit from the advent of low-carbon growth, which is regarded in some quarters as the new economic model for the EU in the post-crisis period.

Speakers

László Andor, EU commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Graham Bishop, European Financial Affairs analyst
Sharon Bowles, chair of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee
Vince Cable, UK secretary of state for Business, Innovation and Skills
Nadia Calvino, deputy director-general of the European Commission’s Internal Market and Services DG
Olaf Cramme, director of Policy Network
Wayne David, Labour shadow Europe minister
Dieter Helm, professor of energy policy, University of Oxford
David Howell, UK Foreign Office minister
Roger Liddle, chair of Policy Network
Robert Madelin, director-general of the European Commission’s Information Society and Media DG
Peter Mandelson, former EU trade commissioner, former UK first secretary of state and president of Policy Network
John Monks, secretary-general of the European Trade Unions Confederation
Mario Monti, former EU commissioner and author of “A New Strategy for the Single Market”
Kalypso Nicolaïdis, director of European Studies Centre, University of Oxford, and member of the Gonzales report on the future of the European Union
David Rennie, Bagehot columnist, The Economist
Verena Ross, head of the international division, UK Financial Services Authority
Anthony Teasdale, deputy chief of staff to the president of the European Parliament
Loukas Tsoukalis, president of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Simon Zadek, senior fellow, Centre for Government and Business, Harvard University Kennedy School

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