In 2022 startte de Universitaire Stichting een nieuwe reeks debatten onder de titel “Speakers’ Corner”, In deze debatten krijgen sprekers uit het Verenigd Koninkrijk en uit de Europese Unie een platform om ons, in het hart van de Europese Unie, hun visie te geven over de relaties tussen het Verenigd Koninkrijk en de EU en over de EU in het algemeen, en om met ons in debat te gaan. De recente activiteit in dit kader ging door op 15 mei 2023 om 18 u, met als onderwerp "The UK and the EU in a changing world. Time for a new departure?". Panelisten: Professor Anand Menon (King’s College London), Andy Bounds (Financial Times) en Stefaan De Rynck (Head of the Commission representation in Belgium and former senior adviser to BREXIT negotiator Michel Barnier). Moderator is Paul Adamson, chairman of the UK/EU Forum. Afsluitende overwegingen worden geformuleerd door Jim Cloos, SG of TEPSA  and Senior Associate Fellow of  the Egmont Institute. Activiteit in samenwerking georganiseerd door de Universitaire Stichting, de EU/UK Foundation, TEPSA (Trans European Policy Studies Association) en het Egmont Instituut.

Debat gevolgd door een hapje en een drankje. 

Daar de activiteit in het Engels doorging, wordt de verdere info alleen in het Engels gegeven.

Topic of the debate

The new agreement to resolve the tensions surrounding the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol - the so-called “Windsor Framework” - sets the scene for a more cordial EU-UK relationship after almost seven years of uncertainty and acrimony in the wake of the 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum.
This debate will examine to what extent it is realistic to envisage a ’new era’ in EU-UK relations, where the most important areas of cooperation and collaboration lie, and what should be a longer term strategy for building on this new momentum.

Presentation of the speakers 

Anand Menon is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London. He also directs the UK in a Changing Europe project (www.ukandeu.ac.uk). His areas of research interest include the policies and institutions of the European Union, European security, and British politics. He contributes regularly to both print and broadcast media. He is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of the European Union (OUP, 2012), and co-author of Brexit and British Politics (Polity 2018). He is a trustee of Full Fact a member of the Strategic Council of the European Policy Centre, a Council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and an associate fellow of Chatham House. (@anandmenon1)

Andy Bounds is the EU correspondent covering Brexit, trade and agriculture, for The Financial Times. He is also Netherlands correspondent. Andy Bounds has worked for the Financial Times since 1997. He covered the Brexit vote in the UK as Northern correspondent and was previously posted in Brussels from 2004-08.

Stefaan De Rynck heads the European Commission’s Representation in Belgium, creating a bridge between the EU’s executive and Belgian politics and society. His experience in EU affairs and public policies covers  transport, sustainable urban development, regulation of financial services, and the single market. From 2016 until 2021, he was a senior advisor for the Brexit negotiations conducted by Michel Barnier. De Rynck teaches on EU governance at the University of Leuven (KUL) and published “Inside the deal. How the EU got Brexit done” (2023)

Jim Cloos is a former Deputy Director General for General and Institutional Policy at the General Secretariat of the EU Council of Ministers. Between 2001 and 2006, he was a close collaborator of High Representative Javier Solana.
From 1995 to 1999, he was Head of Cabinet to the President of the European Commission and his G7/8 Sherpa. Between 1993 and 1995, he headed the Cabinet of the Commissioner in charge of agriculture.
Jim is the Secretary General of TEPSA – the Trans European Policy Study Association, and a Senior Associate Fellow in the European Affairs Programme of the Egmont Institute.

Paul Adamson OBE is chairman of Forum Europe and Forum Global and founder of Encompass an online magazine and discussion space dedicated to covering the European Union and the UK’s place in the world. He is also the chairman of the EU-UK Forum and a member of the Independent Commission on UK-EU Relations.
Paul Adamson is a member of the Centre for European Reform’s advisory board and Rand Europe's Council of Advisors. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London,