Event report

The Library team attended the 8th Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries International Conference, which took place in London (Senate House, University of London).

The Library attended the inauguration ceremony of the Chair in European Values: discourses and prospects, a joint project between the Université catholique de Louvain and the Universiteit Antwerpen, dedicated to the study of European values.

The Library was pleased to attend the 'Euro Plus Monitor Spring 2016 Update', hosted by the Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal.

The Library visited the exhibition 'Imagine Europe. In Search of New Narratives'.

On 8 May (the day before Europe Day), the Library team attended a concert on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Portugal's accession to the European Economic Community, now the European Union.

Do you feel engaged and passionate about your work? Does your organisation use predominantly traditional mechanistic practices or emerging management practices resulting from The Management Shift? How well do people work together?

The Library attended a panel under the title: "Which way forward, Poland?" hosted by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Brussels.

The topic of gender equality surfaces in the public debate every year around the International Women's Day. The European Policy Center (EPC) contributed to this trend by organising a policy dialogue entitled "Women at work. Under-used source of growth?" which the Central Library attended.

The Central Library attended an event at the European Policy Centre (EPC) entitled '"Brexit" or "Bremain" - the Referendum and Beyond'.

The Central Library was pleased to attend the 2016 Jean Monnet Network 'PACO' conference. Organised by Maastricht University, the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Sabanci University, the conference brought together academics from a very impressive list of international universities to debate the topic of parliamentary cooperation and diplomacy in Europe and beyond.

Amidst the wave of conferences related to refugee crisis or the UK and Europe, currently dominating discussion in Brussels, the Central Library was pleased to attend a conference on EU competition and sustainability policies which was hosted by Bruegel, a European think tank specializing in economics.

The Central Library attended the roundtable discussion on 'The European Council and crisis management' on 16 February 2016, organised by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS).

The opening speech was given by Herman van Rompuy, the former President of the European Council. He began by emphasising that, on his appointment to that position, he was aware not only of what the Lisbon Treaty provided for as regards the role of the President of the European Council, but also of what it did not provide for, and what would therefore have to be organised on a more informal basis.

The Central Library attended the SUMMIT Kick-off Conference held in Brussels on 29 and 30 January 2016, under the slogan 'Grasping the European Council - Raising Awareness for a Key Institution' organised by the Jean Monnet Chair, University of Cologne, and the Trans European Policy Studies Association.

The Central Library attended a briefing with the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg, Mr Jean Asselborn, at the European Policy Centre.

In November, the Central Library attended the presentation of the book National Leaders and the Making of Europe: Key episodes in the life of the European Council at the European Political Centre. The conference room was almost full, and among the participants we could count many current and former members of staff of the Council Secretariat.

A quick post to signal the launch of the initiative '100 books on Europe to remember' hosted Tuesday by our colleagues of the EP Research Service. For the occasion, the EP reading room was filled with EU geeks and book lovers who had come to hear which books have shaped the thinking of academics and practitioners 

On 13 November, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) hosted a conference on 'The inequality challenge - competing answers for a global problem', chaired by Edmond Alphandéry with Allan H. Meltzer and Paul de Grauwe. Members of the library team attended this high-level debate, which Mr Alphandéry introduced as a meeting of old friends.

On 23 October Egmont – The Royal Institute for International Relations hosted a conference on 'Foreign fighters in the Islamic Caliphate: what can the EU do?' with Gilles de Kerchove, the EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator.

Constitutional issues and developments affecting statehood are at the heart of our collection as the Council library. "Scotland, the EU, the Referendum and Reform", was such a thought-provoking title that we had to attend this event organised by the Brussels think tank European Policy Center.