UACES EU studies conference in Cork

As someone just put it on Twitter, with "new people in  #EUtopjobs & more possible sanctions against Russia, there should be a conference on all this EU stuff…". In fact there are several, providing food for thought (and matter for the library) for all tastes:

• close to the level of policy, the Brussels think tank Bruegel announced for 4 September the launch of its 'memos' for the new EU leadership, containing the organization's view on Europe's economic priorities for the next mandate.

• On a more academic level, University College Cork (Ireland) hosts the annual conference of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies - UACES. The first plenary session on Monday will look at the EU after the elections and nominations, asking whether the changed landscape amounts to a "changing of the guard". The plenary on Tuesday will address "Member-State referendums and constitutional change" and look at the wider implications for the EU.

During the conference we will report back here and on Twitter on insights, trends in research and forthcoming publications; follow the hash tags #EUCOlibrary and #UACES2014.

Already a first impression from the programme: unlike in pre-election year 2013, this year's research focus seems to insist less on euroscepticism in its many forms and more on the challenges in EU external relations. With 26 presentations containing the keyword "Russia" in the abstract, who can claim that the academic community is lagging behind policy urgencies?

Other possible paths through the very rich programme:

• the institutional balance emerging after Lisbon and after the crisis, to be discussed for example in various  presentations on voting behaviour in the Council,  the Commission's role or developments in the European Parliament.
• papers dealing with  transparency and accountability, often based on  access to documents enquiries submitted by researchers.

Many more pressing questions, and hopefully some answers, in the next days on this blog…

•  P.S.: In the meanwhile, the 7th pan-european conference on EU politics was held in June in The Hague. The conference takes place every two years and is organised by the Standing Group on the EU of the European Consortium for Political Research.

In a forthcoming post, we will try to map the research infrastructure in EU studies, i.e. recurring conferences, journals, academic associations at international and national level. Feel free to leave your input in the comments…