19/09/2011

European Ideas Network
EPP thinking beyond

The European Ideas Network is an open pan-European think-tank designed to promote innovative thinking on the key challenges facing the European Union. Sponsored by the EPP Group, the largest political group in the European Parliament, the network was launched in the summer of 2002 and has rapidly become an important meeting-point for the centre-right in European politics. It is headed by EPP Group Vice-Chairman Jaime Mayor Oreja MEP.

The EIN brings together politicians, businessmen, academics, policy advisers, think-tankers, journalists and representatives of civil society who share a common outlook Europe-wide, as well as outside non-party experts and commentators interested in the public policy issues being addressed. Some of the think-tanks that participate in the EIN network include: the Fondation pour l'Innovation politique, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the József Antall Foundation and the FAES.

The EIN operates through working groups on broad policy questions and a large annual conference - the EIN Summer University - normally held every September. The first Summer University conference took place in Oxford in 2002, followed by conferences in El Escorial, Berlin, Lisbon, Lyon, Warsaw, Fiuggi, Vienna and Budapest. This year, the EIN will meet in Bucharest to discuss the potentials of the Black Sea region and the financial crisis in Europe. The topics of the working groups for 2011 are economy and environment, governance and values, and foreign affairs.

The network also serves as a framework for national think-tanks and political foundations of the centre-right to work together at European level. Currently over 40 such organisations are associated with the EIN in this way. Ever since its foundation, the network has offered a unique forum in which to develop innovative ideas about the policy challenges facing Europe and to evolve practical solutions to help to address them.

Summer University 2011

The 2011 Summer University takes place in Bucharest on 22-24 September. The meeting will focus on the challenges Europe is facing and will try to update European policies in order to better correspond to the present day economic and societal realities. A series of panels will debate issues such as a competitive free single market for a cohesive continent within the multi-financial framework EU 2020, financial market regulation, demography and inclusion, innovation and creativity in the European society, a renewed role of the Transatlantic Community, defence of Christian democratic values and the path towards the EU of countries of the Balkans.

In Bucharest, particular attention will be given to the many potentials of the Black Sea region, with several interesting panels on building up the European influence on security and stability as well as on energy as a strategic and integration factor.

An impressive line of speakers includes Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, Traian Basescu, President of Romania, Emil Boc, Prime Minister of Romania, Yves Leterme, Prime Minister of Belgium, Tigran Sargsyan, Prime Minister of Armenia, Wilfried Martens, President of the EPP Party, Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Dacian Cioloş, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Iurie Leanca, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova, as well as numerous Ministers and Secretaries of State in the current Romanian Government.