RECON's outreach conference 'Where is European democracy heading?' presented key findings from the 5-year long research project, which focused on the conditions for democracy in the multilevel constellation that makes up the EU.
The key question is how to strengthen democracy in the EU. The findings are of great relevance for the ongoing process of reforming European and national institutions.
Some of the main questions posed by the RECON project will be sought answered by presenting findings from the extensive research that has been conducted by the project:
- What is the constitutional future for Europe?
- How is European representative democracy working?
- How and why is the EU contested in the member states?
- New patterns of Euroscepticism in political parties and media?
- How do national intellectuals debate Europe?
- Is the EU's security and defence policy exempted from democracy?
- What is the status of gender democracy in the EU?
- How has European governance influenced the financial crisis?
- International trade - an area for conflict of laws
The conference targeted Brussels-based stakeholders: policy makers, journalists, interest groups, civil society actors, other European research projects as well as the academic community and the general public.
Programme
- Full programme (pdf)
- Short biography of speakers and RECON coordinators (pdf)
- An audio recording of the conference is available as a podcast
- RECON Scientific Coordinator Erik O. Eriksen's introductory speech: 'Why European democracy?'
- Snapshots of selected findings (pdf)
- Photo gallery from the event
Participation
The conference was open to the public and reached 129 registered participants.