• What role have Euroscepticism and populism played in EU-UK relations?
• How will Brexit affect EU external action?
• What are the roles of national and European parliaments in the Brexit process?
• What are the consequences for the UK to leave the EU?
• Is the process of the withdrawal of Article 50 appropriate?
• What British participation to European integration? 
• What's next for the European Union?

Please note all the hours indicated in this programme are based on London timing.

Programme

Brexit and European integration: Policy, political and legitimacy challenges

Day 1 - September 10th

13.00 - 14.00 Conference open and welcome & Keynote speech

Conference opening and welcoming

Sarah Wolff, Director of the Centre for European Research of QMUL and main investigator of the NEXTEUK project, and Kimberly Hutchings, Head of the QMUL School of Politics and Internal Relations

Keynote speech: "Where are we at? The EU-UK negotiations so far and future challenges" by Philip Rycroft 

Discussant: Tim Bale (QMUL - Deputy Director at UK in a Changing Europe)

Chair: Sarah Wolff (QMUL)

Philip Rycroft worked in the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) between March 2017 and March 2019, from October 2017 as Permanent Secretary. He was responsible for leading the department in all its work on the Government’s preparations for Brexit. From June 2015 to March 2019 he was head of the UK Governance Group in the Cabinet Office, with responsibility for advising ministers on all aspects of the constitution and devolution. From May 2012 to May 2015, he was the Director General in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.

Through his career, Philip worked in a variety of roles, in the civil service in Scotland and London, in the European Commission and in business.

He is now a visiting fellow at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge University and an Honorary Professor at Edinburgh University. He holds a number of non-executive posts and is a specialist partner with consultancy Flint Global.

14.00-15.00 Round 1: Public Opinion & Foreign Policy

Panel 1- British Euroscepticism and populism

Discussants: Stijn van Kessel (QMUL) and Sofia Vasilopoulou (University of York)

Chair: Agathe Piquet (QMUL)

- Agnès Alexandre-Collier (Maison française d’Oxford)

“David Cameron, Boris Johnson and the ‘populist hypothesis’ in the British Conservative Party”

- Franco Zappettini (University of Liverpool)

“The tabloidization of the Brexit debate: Power to the (British) people”

- Luca Augé (EHESS)

“From Cameron to Brexit: The path to a mainstream and nationalistic British Euroscepticism between 2005 and 2016”

- Gulay Icoz (independent blogger)

“New era British Euroscepticism – opposing the expansion of differentiated integration and sailing for an alternative beginning”

Panel 2 - The ‘Brexit Moment’ in EU External Action

Discussants: Nicola Chelotti (Loughborough University) and Andre Barrinha (University of Bath)

Chair : Sarah Wolff (QMUL)

- Nicholas Wright (University College London)

“Managing the ‘Great Unmooring’: Re-shaping Britain’s foreign policy for the era of Brexit”

- Amelia Hadfield (University of Surrey)

“EU Development Policy post Brexit”

- Benjamin Martill (University of Edinburgh), Monika Sus (Hertie School)

“Great expectations: The Brexit moment in EU security and defence and the return of the capabilities–expectations gap”

- Marja-Liisa Öberg (Örebro University)

“Blessed be the fruit: On Brexit, cherry-picking and the EU’s relations with the neighbourhood countries”

- Helena Farrand Carrapico (Northumbria University)

“From the core to the neighbourhood: Brexit governance and the evolving nature of the external dimension of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice”

15.00 - 15.15 Professional speed dating

Hopin, the platform used for the conference, can set up random one-to-one calls limited to three minutes in order for the attendees to meet and discuss with different conference participants

15.15 - 15.45 Meet and have a coffee with our partners

Two parallel sessions will be offered to attendees to learn more about the mission and to ask questions to two of our partners:

- Session 1: the European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK (Per Johansson)

- Session 2: UACES (Heidi Maurer)

15.45 - 16.45 Round 2: Parliaments & Post-Brexit UK policies

Panel 3 - What are the roles of national and European parliaments in the Brexit process?

Discussants: Mario Mendez (QMUL) and Ariadna Ripoll Servent (Bamberg University)

Chair: Agathe Piquet (QMUL) 

- Davor Jancic (QMUL)

"The Regulatory Strings that Bind and the UK Parliament after Brexit”

- Ewa Zelazna (University of Leicester)

“The role of parliaments in international treaty-making: A case study of the European Parliament and the UK Parliament in negotiations on the future agreement between the EU and the UK”

- Anna-Lena Högenauer (University of Luxembourg)

“Parliamentary scrutiny of Brexit in the EU-27: Why Brexit is not CETA”

- Marina Strezhneva (IMEMO, Russian Academy of Sciences) and Daria Moiseeva (IMEMO, Russian Academy of Sciences)

“Parliamentarisation of Brexit: Strategies for legitimating regional (dis)integration decisions”

Panel 4 - What are the consequences for the UK to leave the EU?

Discussants: Niovi Vavoula(QMUL) and (tbc)

- Konstantinos Alexandris Polomarkakis (Brunel University London)

“Brexit and Social Europe: An emancipatory moment?”

- Barry Colfer (Harvard University) and Patrick Diamond (QMUL)

“Beyond the border – remaking Anglo-Irish relations post-Brexit”

- Cristina Juverdeanu (King’s College London)

“The EU settlement scheme – settling some but no others”

16.45 - 17.00 Coffee break and networking

Another opportunity for attendees to participate to professional speed dating and/or to engage with their colleagues in one-to-one video calls

17.00 - 18.00 Roundtable

“The impact of COVID-19 on the EU-UK relations”

Discussants: Paul Copeland (QMUL) and Elaine Fahey (City University)

Chair: Agathe Piquet (QMUL)

- Stella Ladi (QMUL)

"The EU's socio-economic response to COVID-19"

- Sarah Wolff (QMUL)

"Schengen governance in times of pandemics"

- Justinas Mickus (Princeton University)

"Competition policy and COVID-19"

18.00 - 19.00 Speakers' Afterwork

Day 2 - September 11th

13.00 – 14.15 Policy Roundtable

“Turbulent times for the freedom of movement in Europe? The impact of Brexit and Pandemic Politics”

Discussants: Valsamis Mitsilegas (QMUL) and Sabine Saurugger (Sciences Po Grenoble)

Chair: Sarah Wolff (QMUL)

– Claude Moraes (ex-MEP)

- Violeta Moreno-Lax (QMUL)

- Susanne Oberhauser (European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK)

- Nicole Sykes (ProBono Economics, ex-CBI head of EU negotiations)

14.30 - 15.30 Round 3: Article 50 & The UK in the EU

Panel 5 - Is the process of the withdrawal of Article 50 appropriate?

Discussants: Sionaidh Douglas-Scott (QMUL) and Tim Oliver (Loughborough University London)

Chair: Sarah Wolff (QMUL)

- Allan F. Tatham (Universidad San Pablo-CEU)

“Trying to close the stable door after the bulldog has bolted? The case for revising article 50 TEU post-Brexit”

- Mário Simões Barata (Polytechnic Institute of Leiria)

“Brexit and the need to overhaul article 50 TEU”

- Oliver Garner (British Institute of International and Comparative Law)

“Reforming Article 50 TEU on withdrawal from the European Union”

- Polly Ruth Polak (University of Salamanca)

“Restrictions to withdrawal under Article 50: Lessons from Brexit”

Panel 6 - What British participation to European integration?

Discussants: Paul Copeland (QMUL) and Stella Ladi (QMUL)

Chair: Agathe Piquet (QMUL)

- Johannes Graf von Luckner (University of Erfurt, Germany)

“A Brexit last call”

- Anne-Laure Riotte (Panthéon-Assas University)

“The post-Brexit story of the British Council, culture to reassure?”

- Andrew Glencross (Aston University)

“Managing differentiated disintegration: Insights from comparative federalism on post-Brexit EU-UK relations”

15.30 - 15.45 Coffee break and networking

Another opportunity for attendees to participate to professional speed dating and/or to engage with their colleagues in one-to-one video calls

15.45 - 16.15 Meet and have a coffee with our partners

Two parallel sessions will be offered to attendees to learn more about the mission and to ask questions to two of our partners:

- Session 1: the European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK (Per Johansson)

- Session 2: UACES (Simon Usherwood)

16.15 – 17.15 Round 4: What’s next for the European Union?

Panel 7 - What’s next for the European Union?

Discussants: Davor Jancic (QMUL) and Sabine Saurugger (Sciences Po Grenoble)

Chair: Sarah Wolff (QMUL)

- Antoinette Scherz (University of Oslo)

“Should there be a right to leave the EU? Connecting the right to exit and the duty to enter in the theory of multilateral democracy?”

- Markus Patberg (University of Hamburg)

“The democratic ambivalence of disintegration: Towards a systematic theoretical framework”

- Olivier Lewis (College of Europe, Natolin Campus)

“The trilemma(s) of international relations: Brexit as a proof of concept”

- Sarah Wolff (QMUL), Agathe Piquet (QMUL)

“It’s the age stupid! Addressing the age gap in Brexit”

17.35 - 18.30 Speakers' Afterwork

Video 1: openings and keynote speech

Conference openings: Sarah Wolff, Agathe Piquet, Kimberly Hutchings

Keynote speech :"Where are we at? The EU-UK negotiations so far and future challenges" by Philip Rycroft (ex-Permanent Secretary of Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) between March 2017 and March 2019), discussed by Tim Bale (QMUL - Deputy Director at UK in a Changing Europe)

Video 2: Roundtable “The impact of COVID-19 on the EU-UK relations”

Discussants: Paul Copeland (QMUL) and Elaine Fahey (City University)

Chair: Agathe Piquet (QMUL)

- Stella Ladi (QMUL): "The EU's socio-economic response to COVID-19"

- Sarah Wolff (QMUL): "Schengen governance in times of pandemics"

- Justinas Mickus (Princeton University): "Competition policy and COVID-19"

Video 3: Policy Roundtable “Turbulent times for the freedom of movement in Europe? The impact of Brexit and Pandemic Politics”

Discussants: Valsamis Mitsilegas (QMUL) and Sabine Saurugger (Sciences Po Grenoble)

Chair: Sarah Wolff (QMUL)

– Claude Moraes (ex-MEP)

- Violeta Moreno-Lax (QMUL)

- Susanne Oberhauser (European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK)

- Nicole Sykes (ProBono Economics, ex-CBI head of EU negotiations)

Video 4. Panel 1- British Euroscepticism and populism

Discussants: Stijn van Kessel (QMUL) and Sofia Vasilopoulou (University of York)

Chair: Agathe Piquet (QMUL)

- Agnès Alexandre-Collier (Maison française d’Oxford):“David Cameron, Boris Johnson and the ‘populist hypothesis’ in the British Conservative Party”

- Franco Zappettini (University of Liverpool): “The tabloidization of the Brexit debate: Power to the (British) people”

- Luca Augé (EHESS): “From Cameron to Brexit: The path to a mainstream and nationalistic British Euroscepticism between 2005 and 2016”

- Gulay Icoz (independent researcher): “New era British Euroscepticism – opposing the expansion of differentiated integration and sailing for an alternative beginning”

Video 5. Panel 2 - The ‘Brexit Moment’ in EU External Action

Discussants:Nicholas Wright (University College London) and Sarah Wolff (QMUL)

Chair : Sarah Wolff (QMUL)

- Nicholas Wright (University College London): “Managing the ‘Great Unmooring’: Re-shaping Britain’s foreign policy for the era of Brexit”

- Amelia Hadfield (University of Surrey): “EU Development Policy post Brexit”

- Benjamin Martill (University of Edinburgh): “Great expectations: The Brexit moment in EU security and defence and the return of the capabilities–expectations gap”

- Marja-Liisa Öberg (Örebro University): “Blessed be the fruit: On Brexit, cherry-picking and the EU’s relations with the neighbourhood countries”

Video 6. Forums "How to teach EU-UK relations and EU integration" (Heidi Maurer, NORTIA and University of Oxford, Britsol University) and "The impact of research on policy-making" (Catherine Fieschi, Counterpoint)

Chair: Sarah Wolff (QMUL)