Conference “10 Years Treaty of Lisbon. Still fit for Purpose?”

The conference “10 Years Treaty of Lisbon. Still fit for Purpose?”, organised by Ton van den Brink (Law), Femke van Esch (Governance) and Salvo Nicolosi (Law), was held on 6 December 2019. The purpose of the conference was not only to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the EU’s Treaty of Lisbon but also to assess whether it has been fit for purpose in the past ten years and will continue to be in the future.

The conference was kicked-off with an inspiring and thought-provoking key note address by prof. Desmond Dinan, Jean Monnet Professor of Public Policy at George Mason School of Public Policy, Arlington, Virginia. He discussed some of the Treaty of Lisbon’s successes and failures, but also explored future prospects for change.

With this key note speech, the agenda was well-set for the rest of the day. In four panel sessions - on the inter-institutional relations and the democratic model post-Lisbon and on EU’s policies and external actions - these issues were further explored. A variety of presenters, from renowned experts to young researchers, from the UU and other institutions, shared and discussed their ideas. The day was concluded by an interactive panel session with both pessimistic and optimistic critique, but with one common agreement that there may be some substantial challenges ahead (if not already there), but its demonstrated agility may give the necessary confidence of the EU’s ability to overcome these. Every reason therefore to look back on a rich, diverse and inspiring day!