EU ENLARGEMENT LECTURE SERIES: 20th Anniversary of the EU Enlargement
As part of our continued efforts to bring together experts with diverse perspectives to discuss contemporary issues facing Europe, the European Studies Center/European Union Center of Excellence (ESC/EUCE) along with the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (REEES) offers a new lecture series to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the EU Enlargement. This virtual lecture series will be held on the last Thursday of each month.
2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the biggest enlargement of the European Union in its history. Ten countries, mainly former socialist Eastern European states, almost doubled the EU from 15 to 25 member states. May 1, 2004, was the triumphal return to the European Family for many. But for some, it initiated a process of disenchantment with the EU and the West.
Each month, the ESC/EUCE, together with REEES at the University of Pittsburgh, will focus our attention on a specific country or a group of countries in the EU by inviting experts and eyewitnesses to discuss the hopes and realities of the EU integration before and after expansion to address what hopes were fulfilled and what new hopes exist for the Union in the present.
Each session is recorded and later posted on the internet with suggested additional readings and further resources. Please check out our webpage for more details and mark the last Thursday of the month to attend this event.
Moderator: Randall Halle
Panelists:
Deunis Auers, University of Latvia
Daunis Auers is a Professor of European Studies and Jean Monnet Chair at the University of Latvia. He studied at the London School of Economics and defended his PhD at University College London. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California-Berkeley (2005-2006) and a Baltic-American Freedom Foundation Scholar at Wayne State University in Detroit (2014). His book on The Comparative Government and Politics of the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the 21st Century – was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2015. He is currently working on a monograph analyzing Nordic-Baltic integration and is a Fulbright program Visiting Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle during the fall and winter of 2023/2024.
Ivars Ijabs, PhD, Member of the European Parliament
Dr. Ijabs is a Member of the European Parliament, elected in 2019 from the electoral alliance “Attīstībai/Par!”. Before entering politics, he was a widely known political scientist, publicist, associated professor at the University of Latvia and a researcher at the Advanced Social and Political Research Institute of the University of Latvia. In the European Parliament, Dr. Ijabs is active in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), and the Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA), representing the “Renew Europe” group. His priorities are with legislative proposals that would bring more EU funding for science, research, and innovation in Latvia.