[Assessing Accession] Research Symposium 2008

assessing accession - central & eastern europe in the eu is an internationally focused collaborative research network (CRN) that aims to bring together researchers, academics, students and practitioners with a specific interest in developing a broader understanding of how the EU's political institutions, policy making and citizens have impacted on, and been impacted by, the EU's Central and East European member states.

2008 Research Symposium - Glasgow

Central & Eastern Europe in the EU: Silent Partners?

This event is now over. For a full report on the symposium please click HERE. The information below is maintained as an archive is for information purposes only.

Assessing Accession - Central & Eastern Europe in the EU is pleased to announce its first Research Symposium will take place on the 6th and 7th June 2008 at the University of Glasgow.

The symposium will take the format of a roundtable-style workshop and will focus primarily on evaluating whether the EU's Central & East European member states have successfully managed to integrate themselves into the EU's political structures or whether they should be viewed as 'silent partners' in a project still dominated by the old guard.

Day one of the symposium will provide participants an opportunity to introduce their research within the context of two roundtable discussions which will debate the impact of the 2004 accession states on the EU's political institutions and policy process. This will be followed by a keynote address with a question and answer session (speakers to be confirmed). Day two will consist of an open discussion session where participants will have the opportunity to discuss the direction of Assessing Accession as a networking and research initiative. Specific interest will be paid to the development of a permanent study group and possible working partnerships.

Twenty participants from across Europe and North America will take part in the symposium.

Keynote Address

A special Keynote Address will be given by Professor Geoffrey Pridham, who will speak on recent developments in EU Enlargement Studies - "The Arrival of Enlargement Studies: Patterns and Problems".

Professor Pridham is Professor of European Politics at the University of Bristol, UK. He has recently been working as an ESRC Fellow researching Europeanising Democratisation?: EU Accession and Post-Communist Politics in Slovakia, Latvia and Romania. His most recent book publication is entitled Designing Democracy: EU Enlargement and Regime Change in Post-Communist Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).

There will be an opportunity to ask questions after the keynote address.

Programme

Friday 6th June 2008
9:30	Coffee and Registration
10:00	Welcome Address: Mr Richard Berry, Director of CRCEES
10:15	Roundtable 1: Evaluating the Impact of 2004 Accession States on the EU’s Political Institutions
12:30	Lunch
14:00	Roundtable 2: Evaluating the Impact of the 2004 Accession States on the EU's Policy Process
16.00	Coffee Break
16.30	Keynote Address: Professor Geoffrey Pridham - "The Arrival of Enlargement Studies: Patterns & Problems"
18.00	Wine Reception: Hosted by the Department of Central & East European Studies, University of Glasgow
19.00	Dinner
Saturday 7th June 2008
10:00	Coffee
10:30	Sandpit Session: Setting the Research Agenda - the Future of EU Enlargement Studies
12:30	Lunch and End of Research Symposium

Papers

Participants in the Symposium will be able to download the papers from the Assessing Accession Online Research Community's virtual workspace. Papers will be made available from Friday 30th May.

Please note that some papers will be made available for general download after the symposium, as work-in-progress papers published by CRCEES in association with Assessing Accession. Please see HERE for further details on the CRCEES Working Papers series.

Roundtable 1: Evaluating the Impact of the 2004 & 2007 Accession States on the EU’s Political Institutions
Laura Cashman University of Glasgow, UK	Roma in the new EU: Accommodating the EU's largest minority
Ms Philippine Colson Dalhousie University, Canada	The Problem of Transition Theory and its Democratisation Bias and Ignorance of the New Class in the Analysis of the Progress of Post-Communist Member and Candidate Countries: A Case Study of Bulgaria and Macedoni
Albena Kuiumdjieva European Parliament	CEE Countries and the European Parliament after Lisbon
Martin Mík Loughborough University, UK	The Czech Republic and EU institutions since accession: interactions with the European Commission and the European Court of Justice in infringement procedures
Dimiter Toshkov Leiden University, Netherlands	Implementation of EU law in the new member states after Accession
Roundtable 2: Evaluating the Impact of the 2004 & 2007 Accession States on the EU's Policy Process
Tatsiana Biletskaya University of Turin, Italy	The Role of European Union – Eastern European Countries Partnership and Cooperation Agreements in the Legal Reform Process: (Cases of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus)
Claudiu Craciun National School of Political Studies and Administration (SNSPA), Romania	From asymmetric accession to asymmetric membership? Romania in the EU policy-process
Károly Grúber University of Győr, Hungary	Central Europe and Russia: Conflict or/and cooperation?
Desislava Hristova Sofia University,Bulgaria / University of Oxford	EU Democratic Conditionality and Civil Society Development: What has changed after the last enlargement?
Dr Dimitry Kochenov University of Groningen, Netherlands	At Home in the Union: New Member States and the Shaping of EU Foreign Policy
Betty Morgan Elon University, USA	The Unbearable Lightness of Being Lithuania in the European Union: Missed Opportunity and Unintended Consequences Precede the Strategic Partnership Negotiations
Simon Lightfoot University of Leeds, UK	Assessing EU Development Policy since 2004: the silence of the new donors?