Europe in 2020: Fears and Hopes
debate

The contemporary global world’s dynamics, the forthcoming EU enlargements and the current processes in the different member states face the United Europe with obscure future. How does this future look like? We try to find it out in a debate between a journalist and political scientist, citizens of one of the oldest and one of the youngest EU members. With this debate we try to step out of the usual "current affairs in EU" - format, and try to imagine what will be the issues on Europe's agenda in 2020. This futorologist exercise will bring us to the questions: How will the EU be positioned in the world? What challenges will it have to address? Which will be the EU member states in 2020 and which countries will be lined-up for accession? How will the EU - Russia, EU - US, EU - China relations look like?

With the participation of: Michael Zeeman (journalist, the Netherlands) and Ivan Krastev (political scientists, Bulgaria).
Moderator: Jeannette Mak (Univeristy of Amsterdam, The Netherlands).

This event is part of BG - NL: A Cultural Celebration 2007 programme of the Netherlands Embassy in Sofia on occasion of Bulgaria's membership in the EU.
 

More information for the participants :

Ivan Krastev is chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria. From 2004 on h e served as the executive director of the International Commission on the Balkans, chaired by Giuliano Amato , from 2005 on he is an editor – in- chief of the "Foreign Policy" , issued in bulgarian . He is the Director of "Open Century" Project in Central European University in Budapest.

M ichael Zeeman was born in Maken , Netherlands, in 1958. A writer, critic, jourmalist and radio presenter, he has written for all the main Dutch daily and weekly newspapers, beginning as theatre literature, philosophy and history and poetry critic. He is currently working for the Dutch daily newspaper, de Volkskrant , writing on literature, the visual arts, and cultural affairs. He has his own monthly television programme, Zeeman met boeken , on contemporary literature and makes lengthy television interviews with writers such as V.S. Naipaul, Philip Roth, Edward Said, Graham Swift and others. editor of the literary magazine Optima Since 1995 Zeeman has built up a reputation as a panel chairman in a monthly book programme called ‘Laat op de avond na een korte wandeling’ (Late in the evening after a stroll), later renamed ‘Zeeman met boeken’ (Zeeman with books). He has published two books of poetry (the first of which was awarded the best poetry book of 1991), a book of short stories and books of essays. His first novel is now being prepared for the press. През 2002 г. Zeeman was awarded the prestigious The golden quill De Gouden Ganzenveer award for his contributions to Dutch culture, and an anthology of his essays will be published in April 2002. Zeeman was a critic in residence at Groningen University in 1998 and has been teaching criticism (history, theory and practice of) at Amsterdam University since 1990. With his wide experience as a speaker and moderator of festivals at home and abroad, Michael Zeeman has been the main moderator at the Winternachten festival in The Hague since its first edition in 1995. In 1991 he published his first collection of poems Beeldenstorm (Iconoclasm), for which he received the C.Buddingh’-prize. His second collection Verhoudingen (Relationships) appeared in 1995. In the same year his collection of short stories De Verduistering (The blackout) appeared. At present Michael Zeeman works in Rome as a correspondent for the newspaper De Volkskrant.

Jeannette Mak (1970) graduated in International Relations at the University of Amsterdam and took a Masters in European Studies at the College of Europe in Bruges. Her PhD thesis (European University Institute, Florence) deals with the role of the European Commission and the national governments in achieving public acceptance of the euro, and explores whether the way they communicate ‘Europe’ has changed since the lack of legitimacy of the Community became apparent in the early 1990ies. She currently works on an EU funded research on Europeanisation: ‘The Transformation of Political Mobilisation and Communication in European Public Spheres’.

December 18 (Tuesday), 6.00 p.m.
Red hall
In English and Bulgarian, with simultaneous translation.
Entrance: 2/ 1 BGN

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