Events

As part of the French Presidency the Robert Schuman Foundation and Confrontations Europe organised on 29th and 30th October a seminar at the European Parliament that focused on "European interest"; it was closed by Jean-Pierre Jouyet, French Secretary of State for European Affairs. The Chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation, Jean-Dominique Giuliani chaired the dinner-debate on 29th October.

As part of the French Presidency the Robert Schuman Foundation co-organised a seminar in Warsaw on 28th October - "Does Europe need another Robert Schuman?".

As part of the French Presidency of the EU the first Biomarine Forum took place in Toulon and in Marseilles from 20th to 24th October. This forum was opened by French Prime Minister François Fillon and the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. Joe Borg, the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, Elisabeth Walaas, Norwegian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Xavier de la Gorce, Secetary General for the Sea and Joao Mira Gomes, Portuguese Secretary of State for Defence and Maritime affairs took part in the closing debate on the integrated European maritime policy - a debate that was chaired by Jean-Dominique Giuliani, Chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation.

The Geographic Society and the Robert Schuman Foundation are organising a conference on "European Identity: its institutions and geopolicy" on 25th and 26th October. Thierry Chopin, Research Director at the Foundation will be speaking on 25th October on "The Development of the Institutions - how can the European political system really be run with or without the Lisbon Treaty?" Foundation Chairman, Jean-Dominique Giuliani is speaking on 26th October on European Policy and World Geopolitics. His speech will focus on the theme of "What policies should the EU adopt and what will the geopolitical consequences be?"

On 17th October the Robert Schuman Foundation and the Fondazione Spadolini Antologia organised a Franco-Italian seminar dedicated to the results of a year's political life in France and Italy and to the Union for the Mediterranean project.

Alain Lamassoure, former minister, MEP and author of the report "Le citoyen et l'application du droit communautaire," Bernard Vatier, former lawyer at the bar of Paris and former chairman of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe together with Jean-Dominique Giuliani, chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation will debate "What community law should there be for the citizens?" on 16th October.

The 30th world conference on data protection organised for the first time by the French (CNIL) and German (BfDI), authorities took place in Strasbourg between 15th and 17th October. It focused on the theme of "Protecting Private Life in a Borderless World". Jean-Dominique Giuliani, chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation spoke on 16th October in a session entitled "Digitally Assisted Man: Digital Angel or Devil?"

As part of the French Presidency of the European Union, the Embassy of France in Romania together with the Romanian Foreign Office, the European Commission, the Robert Schuman Foundation and the French Institute of Romania are organising a seminar on 14th October in Bucharest "On the Black Sea, the European Union's New Border" notably with Lazar Comanescu, Romanian Foreign Minister and Henri Guaino, Special Advisor to the President of the French Republic in attendance.

As part of the European cultural season and the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Alliance Française of Cork organised a conference on 8th October on "Europe, an international power" with Etienne Davignon in attendance (former Vice-President of the European Commission), together with Vaira Vike-Freiberge (former President of Latvia), Michael Martin(Irish Foreign Minister) and Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres (Ambassador of the European Cultural Season and former French Culture and Communication Minister). Thierry Chopin, Research Director at the Foundation spoke as part of a panel on "Europe and Globalisation."

The French Institute in Budapest and Hungary's Robert Schuman Institute jointly organised a conference on the priorities of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The conference was called "Climate Change, Migration, Defence, Agriculture: new challenges for Europe and for the French Presidency of the EU."