European Union

The right mix of short and long-duration storage is key to answering the challenges ahead while phasing out fossil-fuel solutions. All innovative technologies should be considered for tenders, contingent upon a mandatory requirement: the demonstration of a high technology readiness level.

French power giant EDF's future investments could exceed €20 billion per year, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the country's energy transition minister, said on Thursday (28 September), adding that the exact level was the subject of discussion.

The Abraham Accords have transformed the region, shaping a brighter future in the Middle East and beyond, while opening new doors for collaboration with the EU, writes Haim Regev.

Kazakhstan’s support is vital for enforcing sanctions against Russia and ending the war, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said as he met Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Berlin on Wednesday, as EU countries seek to win over Central Asia as a key...

French small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are ready fight climate change as long as there is no “regulatory tsunami”, the French Federation of SMEs warned ahead of introduction of the EU’s new extra-financial reporting requirements.

The Bulgarian parliament abandoned its intention to ban the import of Russian oil by the end of this year and decided that this should happen by the end of October 2024.

Slovakia is on the brink of a critical parliamentary election set for Saturday, with a campaign that underlined a stark divide between nationalist sentiments, represented by former socialist prime minister Robert Fico, and the forces of liberalism embodied by the...

To uphold sanctions against Russia, Finland has launched round-the-clock border checks to prevent Russian vehicles from entering its territory via the six cross-border roads from Norway. Norwegian and Finnish customs officials confirmed to the Norwegian press that additional resources had...

Filing a case against the US over its massive green subsidy push in the form of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) could ultimately do more harm than good, despite strong criticism that it violates...

The leaders of nine Mediterranean and southern European countries, including France's Emmanuel Macron and Italy's Giorgia Meloni, meet Friday (29 September) in Malta for talks set to focus on migration.

Europe’s net-zero goals will almost certainly not be achieved without significant deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, writes Chris Davies. Suggesting that use of CCS should be limited even before it has begun is hardly the best way to solve the climate crisis, he argues.

Ministers will reach a deal on a key migration law "in a few days", EU Commissioner for migration Ylva Johansson told journalists following a meeting of EU home affairs ministers on Thursday (27 September), despite significant disagreements persisting on key parts of the file.

Poland in 2020 imposed a near-total ban on abortion, triggering mass protests — and today the demands for access to safe abortion continue. On International Safe Abortion Day, dozens gathered in Brussels calling for solidarity among member states.

Spokespersons for Parliament and for political groups will hold a briefing on the 2 - 5 October plenary session on Friday at 11.00, in Parliament’s Anna Politkovskaya press room.

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Spokespersons for Parliament and for political groups will hold a briefing on the 2 - 5 October plenary session on Friday at 11.00, in Parliament’s Anna Politkovskaya press room.

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

NATO and Ukraine's industries will meet in the war-torn country on Friday (29 September) to hammer out a joint plan for producing weapons for the battlefield, as Kyiv is increasingly struggling to replenish its stocks.

Dear readers, Welcome to EU Politics Decoded where Benjamin Fox and Eleonora Vasques will bring you a round-up of the latest political news in Europe and beyond every Thursday. In this edition we await the white smoke of an agreement...

On 2 October, ENVI Committee, in association with AFET, DEVE and ITRE Committees, will hold the hearing of Mr. Wopke Hoekstra, Commissioner designate for Climate Action, as part of the process to replace Executive Vice- President Frans Timmermans, following his resignation from the European Commission on 22 August.
During the hearing, Members will ask a series of questions to Mr Hoekstra, in order to evaluate his qualifications to carry out the specific tasks assigned. As a new member of the College, the hearing will also evaluate his general competence, European commitment and personal independence.
Live streaming Wopke Hoekstra hearing
Meeting agenda
Documents related to the evaluation of Wopke Hoekstra as commissioner-designate for Climate Action
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Undertaking a research project is a pleasurable and yet sometimes solitary enterprise. You spend much of your time reflecting on your ideas, reading your way through libraries, writing down your conclusions and putting everything together in a single document. Researchers, even in collective projects, often do this process on their own. This is a style of working that I got used to since starting my PhD at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris in September 2021 and that I learned to enjoy intellectually.  

In the wide world of academia, there is another specific moment which I equally learned to adopt and enjoy: conferencing and in particular international conferencing. In that regard, UACES has been a great help. A few weeks after attending the Graduate Forum in Barcelona, UACES provided me with financial support via its Microgrant programme to participate in the 2023 European Consortium for Political Research General Conference. 

The ECPR General Conference brought together around 2,000 academics from around the world in Prague for a few days to discuss a variety of contemporary political science research topics. I was selected as a presenter for the panel ‘Parties under Pressure: Party Divisions and Party Change’ chaired by Kristina Weissenbach. My paper ‘Johnson and “Let’s Keep Brexit Done”: The Impact of Conservative Party Management on the UK’s Policy on Europe’ covered elements of my PhD and specifically dealt with one of the statecraft theory dimensions by Jim Bulpitt that underpins my theoretical framework. 

 

My participation at the conference enabled me to present parts of my PhD to an international audience. The feedback received at the panel and subsequent informal discussions provided input to guide the further reflection for this paper and more widely for my PhD. It greatly complemented comments already received at other academic events and helped to identify the strengths as well as the current weaknesses of my approach that still need to be addressed.   

On a more personal note, the participation at this conference also allowed me to discover Prague. It was my first time in the city, and in Czechia, but I was so impressed by the history, architecture, culinary scene, and lifestyle that I will gladly come back. My recent transfer to Berlin means that Prague is reachable by train in under 5 hours. The ability to combine work and leisure only made this conference more stimulating. 

For all these reasons, I am particularly grateful to UACES for this Microgrant that made my participation at the ECPR 2023 General Conference possible. The funds helped me to complement the logistical costs and allowed me to fully focus on participating in the event. As a PhD student, I am thankful for this opportunity and I am happy to be able to contribute to such international conferences. They are really intellectually, professionally, and personally a major perk of academic life. 

 

 

More about the Microgrant Scheme:

The UACES Microgrant scheme is aimed at supporting research for our Early-Career and Individual Members.

The microgrants scheme will provide grants of between £100 and £500 to UACES members to assist them to cover the costs of undertaking their research. The grants are designed to recognise the challenges facing researchers at this time.

 

 

The post International Conferencing and the Perks of Academic Life appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

US Senator Bob Menendez pleaded not guilty on Wednesday (27 September) to charges of taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen, while calls for his resignation from fellow Democrats are growing.