Jean-Luc Robert was previously a political advisor for Justice and Home Affairs and is now the First Counselor at the European Parliament’s Liaison Office in Washington DC in charge of public diplomacy and university outreach. He will present his viewpoints on the issues and risks that surround the upcoming European Parliament elections. With the Euro Area Crisis, anti-EU populism and the rise of far right parties as part of the current political landscape and public debate, the elections have the potential to create significant changes for the EU and European politics.

Given the German economy’s central role in the Euro Area, and Germany’s place as a strong business partner with the US and Pennsylvania, many people are interested in the characteristics of the German business model. Our panelists will discuss their experiences attracting German companies to the Pittsburgh region, partnering with them in transatlantic relationships, and tips for successful relationships with German companies and colleagues.

From May 22 to May 25, voters in 28 members countries of the European Union will elect some 751 members of a newly empowered European Parliament. Since the Treaty of Lisbon came into effect, the EP has gained “co-decision” rights in many policy areas, including agriculture, energy policy, immigration and EU funds. The EP must approve the budget and most visibly, the European Parliament has gained the right to endorse (or not) the members states’ nominee to be President of the European Commission. The Parliament also must give its approval to the Commission as a whole.

Offering a presentation on long-standing human rights violations and governmental stonewalling of inquiries and reforms in Northern Ireland, human rights attorneys will discuss their experiences as well as proposals for human rights reform. Case profiles that will be discussed include the representation of victims and the reopening of inquests in the Claudy atrocity, Kingsmill, Loughlinisland massacres, and the Dublin/Monaghan Bombing, as well as investigations of sanctioned involvement of the security services in these and other high profile cases from the past 40 years. Dr.

Join the European Union Center of Excellence and European Studies Center for a lunchtime discussion as Andrea Aldrich, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science, presents her research on the national European parties and their relationships with European Elections and Members of the European Parliament. Assuming that political parties have office, vote, and policy seeking goals in any electoral contest, she will argue these goals in European elections are defined by their ability to seize opportunities in national politics and their preferences for European integration.

Political and economic decentralization is the immediate systemic change needed for Ukraine to become a stable and healthy democracy. Democratic regional decentralization would have three important and distinct benefits for Ukraine's nascent democratic institutions.

1. It would be an effective guarantee that important local economic and social decisions are made by the people most affected by these decisions, rather than being dictated by whichever party comes to power in Kiev.

Panel Discussion on Turkey and Its Neighbors moderated by Dr. Steven E. Sokol (World Affairs Council). Panelists included Dr. Ronald Linden (Pitt), Mr. Jonathan Hill (The Compton Group, LLC), and Dr. David Rossback (Chatham University). Part of a day-long World Affairs Institute for Student Leaders.

In this month’s installment of our Conversations on Europe virtual roundtable series, a panel of experts and audiences from European Union Centers across the U.S. will engage in a discussion of the upcoming Scottish referendum on independence from Britain scheduled for September of this year and the possibility of a UK referendum on EU membership that could occur as early as 2016. How likely is Scottish independence? What would be the prospects of an independent Scotland in the European Union?

The Cold War “ended” with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Almost 23 years later, the division between Russia and the West has returned to the forefront of U.S. national security concerns. Ukraine, a former Soviet Socialist Republic, is now a flashpoint for conflict. Russia threatens to invade Ukraine to protect the Russian population living there after pro-Western protestors overthrew the pro-Russian Yanukovych regime. Russia’s interests are driving Russian forces to take control of the Crimean peninsula where a Russian Navy base is located.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Croatian folk culture has been and continues to be used as cultural legitimization for both a Croatian nation and the integration of that nation into empires. Using documentation of historical displays of Croatian folk art in Vienna and Zagreb, this research explores the early-20th century transition of these objects from Habsburg museums of applied art to newly founded ethnographic museums after World War I.