Speaker Series

The EUGlobalGreen Speaker Series will be online, recorded, conference-debates, in English and French, lasting 2 hours, in which one speaker will impart their in-depth expert knowledge on the role of the EU with regards to environmental challenges. The presentation will be followed by a short kick-off discussion by another invited expert, followed by extensive Q&A interactions with the audience.

Such interactive sessions through the Speaker Series will enable participants to develop their critical mind and abilities to share and question data and interpretations. The Speaker Series will be open to all students (bachelor’s, master’s, PhD), researchers and civil society representations at USL-B and beyond. Potential speakers will be selected according to diverse origins, gender and thematic specialization, and professional occupation (academics and practitioners including diplomats from EU and third countries).

In progress (Yi hyun Kang)

November 15, 2024 @ 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm

With: Katharine Throssell, Chercheuse postdoctorante, SciencesPo Bordeaux

Titre: Kids on climate – a project to explore links between climate change, emotions, political socialization and (dis)engagement at different levels (local, national and European)  

Abstract: What does it mean to grow up learning about politics in a context marked by the climate crisis? What if your first awareness of a political issue was one that politicians seem unable to solve? KIDSONCLIMATE investigates how young teenagers’ awareness of the climate crisis, and the emotions it generates, might impact their (dis)engagement with politics at different levels (national, local, European). It uses existing quantitative data from the IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) International Civics and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) along with innovative qualitative methodologies with 13-year-olds and their parents in two countries (Belgium and France) to ask: how do the emotions generated by the climate crisis impact young teens’ support for the political system they live in and their feelings of political belonging? What are the social, political, educational, and media factors that influence these emotions? At a time when the effects of the climate crisis are ever more visible and dramatic, and many young people are turning away from institutional politics, or towards populism and the far right, we urgently need to understand how the emotions resulting from this context might impact how young people feel about their political system and their place within it. 

Discussants: Emilie Van Haute, professor of political science, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) & Teresa Cabrita, professor of EU Law, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles 

Chair: Florence Delmotte, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles

November 18, 2024

With Marie-Claire Brisbois (University of Sussex)

Video in progress.

Marie-Claire Brisbois is a Senior Lecturer in Energy Policy at the University of Sussex. Her research focuses on the interplay of power, politics, and influence in the governance of energy, water, and climate issues. As a guest speaker in the EUGlobalGreen Speaker Series, she will deliver a lecture on the multi-level governance of energy transitions. This lecture will be part of the International Relations course.

February 20, 2024

With Jeffrey Rosamond (Ghent University)

We assess the response of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (hereafter the Council) to the emergence and development of the European Green Deal (EGD). First, we conduct a literature review of the historical role of the two intergovernmental institutions in EU climate policy development, drawing inspiration from new intergovernmentalism, historical institutionalism, and discursive institutionalism. Next, we provide an overview of the EGD itself and three of its core elements: (1) the ambition to achieve climate neutrality by 2050; (2) its systemic and integrative nature; and (3) the just transition approach. We then present the results of a qualitative content analysis of all Council and European Council Conclusions from 2018 to 2020. Our findings show that the European Council and the Council have declared support for the EGD and its underlying principles. The European Council engaged with all three elements but mentioned the objective of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 most frequently and with growing intensity over the years studied. The Council similarly discussed the three elements of the EGD and gave increasing focus to the integrated/systemic transition over the course of the years 2018–2020. Our empirical analysis suggests that, on paper, the Council and the European Council may manage to govern through the organisational turbulence of member state divisions on climate governance. Furthermore, environmental turbulence arising from external contexts (e.g., economic and health crises) did not dampen their declared support towards the goals of the EGD.

February 8, 2024

With Anne Guisset (KULeuven)

Tuesday October 10, 2023

With Kelly Vossen (PhD researcher & Assistant Professor at UCLouvain)

Monday October 9, 2023

With Laura Iozzelli (Research Fellow at EUI School of Transnational Governance)

Speakers series #5 – Connecting the dots? The European Union’s diplomacy across the international regime complex on climate change

Thursday April 20, 2023

With Joseph Earsom (Postdoctoral researcher at UCLouvain, ISPOLE)

Discussants: Yi hyun Kang (Postdoctoral researcher at Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles) & Amandine Orsini (Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles)

Speakers series #4 – Quel rôle pour l’UE dans le contexte de la crise écologique ?

Friday March 31, 2023

With Angèle Minguet (Docteure en science politique et chercheuse associée au CReSPo)
Discussant: Mihnea Tănăsescu (Docteur en science politique, UMons)

Speakers series #3 – ‘A force for good’ : the narrative construction of ethical EU–Vietnam trade relations

With Camille Nessel (Ghent University)

Political representation of problems includes an aim to control an audience’s impressions and create a societally-acceptable social reality. This paper analyses the narrative construction of ethical trade between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam. As an undemocratic Other, Vietnam has been sharply criticized for its human rights record by civil society and Members of European Parliament. Yet, the EU recently concluded two trade agreements with Vietnam. We argue that, unchallenged by the European Parliament, the European Commission created a performative ‘story of change’ for its European audience by simultaneously appealing to underlying ‘neoliberal’ and ‘development’ paradigms. In this narrative, the EU and Vietnam star as the main characters, who, in their joint attempts to make bilateral trade ‘a force for good’, live moments of heroism, encounter fleeting instances of victimhood, and defeat villains on the path to ethical trade.

Monday Novembre 21, 2022

with Rakhyun Kim (Utrecht University)
Discussant: Delphine Misonne (USL-B)

The video is available on request @ThereseDavio

Friday October 21, 2022

with Adrien Estève (Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l’Ecole Militaire) presenting his new book.