Event report

The Library and Research team attended an event organised by the Center for Data Innovation on the Internet of Things (IoT). The event focused on the role of the European Union in developing a coordinated approach to unleashing the potential of the IoT in Europe.

Pascal Lamy était à Bruxelles pour présenter l'ouvrage intitulé "Où va le monde?" qu'il a co-écrit avec Nicole Gnesotto. Cette présentation a été l'occasion pour Pascal Lamy de développer les idées contenues dans ce livre, mais également de revenir sur son parcours personnel, de la fonction publique française à l'Organisation mondiale du commerce en passant par les plus hautes instances européennes.

On Saturday 10 December 2016, the new Europa building opened its doors to visitors for one day. The Europa building is the new EU Council headquarters where the EU representatives will meet as from January 2017.

'Where there is music, there is no place for racism', according to Catalan musician Jordi Savall. That outlook and many other ideas of tolerance and mutual understanding between cultures were discussed during an inspiring event at the European Parliament.

L'équipe de la Bibliothèque et Recherche a assisté à la présentation du nouveau livre du Commissaire européen Pierre Moscovici, qui s'intitule "S'il est minuit en Europe". Durant cette rencontre, Pierre Moscovici a évoqué plusieurs thèmes d'actualité, dont la prochaine élection présidentielle en France, la sécurité et la crise des réfugiés, le populisme et la politique économique européenne.

The Republic of Iceland, a Nordic European island country with a population of about 330 000 and an area of 103 000 km², has a modern National Library that coexists with its University Library on the campus of Reykjavík University. The Library and Research team recently had an opportunity to visit it.

The Library and Research team attended a public roundtable on the evolution of NATO's policy from assurance to deterrence; the challenges encountered when countering hybrid or non-linear warfare; and the implications of the rise of Asia for the transatlantic relationship.

The Library and Research team recently attended "Politicians in a communication storm", a conference held at the European Parliament.

At an event organised by Bruegel,  the European Commission Vice-President for Financial Services, Valdis Dombrovskis, set out his approach to regulating Europe's banking sector. The discussion included Guntram Wolff, Director of Bruegel, and Reza Moghadam, Vice-Chairman of Global Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley, as well as experts and audience members.

For the first time since its accession in 2004, Malta will assume the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 January 2017. Ian Borg, Parliamentary Secretary for the EU presidency, presented Malta's priorities at a breakfast briefing attended by the Library and Research team.

The Library and Research team attended the debate 'Brexit and the future of EU-Japan relations' which brought together numerous academics visiting from Japan as well as their European counterparts and consisted in a series of roundtables and public panel discussions around the topics of EU-Japan cooperation and Belgo-Japanese diplomatic relations.

The Library team attended the 'Europe today and tomorrow: preparing for the next 25 years' conference organised by the College of Europe's Department of European Political and Administrative Studies.

The European Policy Centre celebrated its 20th anniversary with an incredible line-up of speakers invited to join the celebrations including the presidents of the European Council, of the European Commission and of the European Parliament, as well as high-level policy-makers.

The Library and Research Sector attended the policy dialogue "What next for the Eastern Partnership?" organised by the European Policy Centre (EPC).

The Library and Research Sector attended a conference under the heading Europe's strength lies in its diversity, organised by the Group of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The event was held at the European Parliament and presented a positive case for integration through hard work and dedication.

The Library and Research Sector attended the conference on "Opportunities and threats of the digital economy", organised by the Egmont Institute in cooperation with the UN Association-Belgium (APNU).

From crisis management to conflict prevention or how to implement the EU Global Strategy - different initiatives: resilience and an integrated approach to conflict and crisis, an implementation plan on security and defence, strengthening internal and external nexuses and public diplomacy.

The event provided an opportunity to present the website Populism Tracker, which investigates populism trends in all the member states of the European Union and aims at creating a deeper political understanding of the growing distance between citizens and their institutions of governance.

The seminar organized by ALDE Group aimed to provoke a debate on EU future and geopolitical role in the world.

The aim of the conference was to discuss freedom of religion and belief around the world as well as the EU's role in establishing and improving it in countries where Christians are being discriminated against.