For the celebration of Egmont Institute’s 70th Anniversary, the European Affairs Programme is holding a workshop :

“Multi-speed integration: political promises, legal constraints and budgetary challenges”

At the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, 27 European leaders stated their intent to ‘act together, at different paces and intensity where necessary, while moving in the same direction’. The European Commission anticipated this discussion by including a ‘those who want more do more scenario’ in its white paper on the future of Europe. Yet integration at multiple speeds raises as many questions as it answers. To what extent can differentiation be integrated in current treaty provisions? If enhanced cooperation is deemed to provide sufficient political flexibility, how is this to be translated into a new financial framework? Does the Eurozone, or a smaller core of member states, require a budget of its own to put integration into a higher gear?

Chair : Alexander Mattelaer, Egmont Institute – Director of the European Affairs Programme,

Moderator: Jurek Kuczkiewicz, Le Soir – Senior writer EU Affairs

Speakers:  François Roux, Permanent Representative of Belgium to the EU

                  Yves Bertoncini, Institut Jacques Delors – Notre Europe – Director

                  Maria Demertzis, Bruegel – Deputy Director

                  Philippe Maystadt, Former President of the European Investment Bank

(Photo credit: European Commission)