Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship

President Eisenhower hoped to see Europe as a “third great power block.”  New European defense initiatives represent a generational ambition for bold action. Can Europe effectively improve its defense investments and capabilities? And should the United States support a strong European security and defense policy?  Join the Project on Europe to discuss EU defense efforts and US policies with Fellow, Dr. Seth Johnston, and Research Director, Dr. Torrey Taussig, as outlined in Dr Johnston's recent Belfer Center policy brief, “A Europe that Protects? : U.S. Opportunities in European Defense.”

PLEASE NOTE: This seminar will be conducted via Zoom. You can join the video conference here: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/318354958 OR call in by dialing +1 312 626 6799. Meeting ID 318 354 958. 

The Treaty of Lisbon established the most developed array of EU foreign policy instruments in the history of European integration, which include a permanent President of the European Council, a revamped High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and a European External Action Service. Ten years after the entry into force of the treaty, an assessment of the effectiveness of such instruments for transatlantic dialogue is timely and necessary. What impact have EU foreign policy instruments had on transatlantic dialogue? How have these instruments been ineffective? What could be done to make them more effective?

Project on Europe Fellow Alvaro Renedo will address these issues, in light of his research findings and his experience as former Director of the Department of European Affairs and G20 in the Presidency of the Government of Spain.

PLEASE NOTE: This seminar will be conducted via Zoom. You can join the video conference here: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/854417819 OR call in by dialing +1 929 436 2866. Meeting ID: 854 417 819.

Now that the European Commission has launched the Conference on the Future of Europe, please join Professors Nicholas Burns and Sergio Fabbrini, the Pierre Keller Visiting Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, for a discussion on the challenges and opportunities for the reform of the European Union and the future of European integration. 

Breakfast will be served.

In recent years the crisis of the transatlantic relationship and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has become a common theme in media, and various scholars have frequently questioned the futures of both entities. Not only are the new sovereigntist and populist trends within the NATO members calling the relevance of the transatlantic relationship into question, but some have found a reason to identify a crisis in the transatlantic relationship from the rise of global actors and the emergence of China as a great power in particular. China’s economic recovery after its “century of humiliation” is reshaping the international geopolitics and shifting the economic epicenter of the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Asia Center; Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies; and Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, Harvard Kennedy School

Please join the Project on Europe and the Center for European Studies for an event with Jessica Brandt, Head of Policy and Research, Alliance for Securing Democracy, and Torrey Taussig, Research Director, Project on Europe, on Europe's counter-strategy against Russia and China's assaults on free and open societies across the continent. Sebastián Royo, Professor of Government at Suffolk University, and José Manuel Martinez Sierra, Jean Monnet ad Personam Professor in EU Law and Government at Real Colegio Complutense, will chair the discussion.

This conversation will highlight a spectrum of Russian and Chinese overt and covert activities in Europe, ranging from benign state tools, such as public diplomacy, to more malevolent efforts, including direct interference in electoral processes. Moving forward, it will be incumbent on European policymakers to avoid looking any one vector in isolation and to close vulnerabilities across their political systems, economies and societies.

The Cyber Project and the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship are excited to welcome Dr. Gesche Joost, Professor of Design Research at the Berlin University of the Arts and head of the Design Research Lab since 2005.

As part of its new career webinar series, the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship and the Future of Diplomacy Project invite current HKS students and alumni to discuss ‘real world’ perspectives on forging careers in diplomacy from a transatlantic perspective, with four HKS alumni. Students can join the discussion in person at G-06 in the Rubenstein Building, or dial into the conversation via Zoom (call-in details below).

Join the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship to discuss progress on EU defense policy, EU-NATO cooperation and the best means to tackle transnational security challenges in the digital age with Janne Kuusela, Director General for Defense Policy at the Ministry of Defense, Finland. The seminar will be held in Littauer-163 Faculty Dining Room. A light breakfast will be served.

Please join the Belfer Center and the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship for speech by Madame Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces of France, followed by a discussion with Professors Ash Carter, Belfer Professor of Technology and Global Affairs, and Nicholas Burns, Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations. 

RSVPs are required and space is limited. Please plan to arrive 10-15 minutes early for a possible bag check by security and bring an ID. Open to HUID holders only. 

China’s rise cannot be meaningfully assessed without a close look at the digital domain. Disputes related to digital technologies feature front and center in the U.S.-China trade war, as China continues making digital inroads on the European Continent. Meanwhile, debates over regulatory measures like GDPR serve as a reminder of the differences between the American and European approaches to data governance. Just how far has China gotten in its quest to primacy in digital technologies like 5G? What underlies China’s fervid pursuit of an AI-fueled national strategy? As American tech firms face sustained pushback from European governments in the latter’s renewed call for “digital sovereignty,” how feasible is a coordinated U.S.-EU response to China’s digital expansion? Finally, how might this all be engendering a new balance between individual right to privacy, corporate interest and state power on a global scale? Join a panel of experts from an array of backgrounds in a vibrant discussion of these pressing topics.