Values, Democracy and EU Foreign Policy – ValEUs Final Conference
How can shared values shape the European Union’s foreign policy in a changing world? What happens when democratic principles are increasingly called into question or eroded? And what contribution can academia, education and civil society make to this process? These questions will be at the heart of the final conference of the international ValEUs research and education network, taking place at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) from Tuesday 29 September to Friday 2 October. Under the title “Values, Democracy, and EU Foreign Policy. Paths to a New Policy Agenda”, international researchers, students, representatives from civil society and politics, as well as members of the interested public, will come together for discussions in Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice. Many of the programme sessions will also be available via livestream.
Academic panel discussions and practice-oriented roundtables will address topics including the weakening of democratic structures and shared values, shifts in the international order, and EU foreign and enlargement policy. Further topics include support for Ukrainian academia, the relationship between civil society, politics and European values, as well as the role of universities in fostering diversity and humanitarian principles.
Programme, registration and information about livestreams
Programme highlights
Tuesday 29 September, 5.30 pm
Opening of the conference, followed by a lecture by Hans Kundnani (London School of Economics and Political Science) addressing the question “What Values Are European?”
Venue: Logensaal, Logenhaus, Logenstraße 11, Frankfurt (Oder), and via livestream
Wednesday 30 September, 6.00 pm
Keynote by Marek Prawda (Head of Poland’s Representation in Switzerland and Liechtenstein) on “Challenges of a Value-Orientated EU Foreign Policy”
Venue: Kleine Aula, Collegium Polonicum, ul. Kościuszki 1, Słubice, and via livestream
Thursday 1 October, 5.30 pm
Roundtable discussion on “Civil Society, Political Actors, and Their Struggle with ‘European’ Values”, featuring researchers from the Netherlands, Germany, France, Kazakhstan and Colombia
Venue: Logensaal, Logenhaus, Logenstraße 11, Frankfurt (Oder), and via livestream
Friday 2 October, 11.00 am
Roundtable discussion on “The Role of Universities in Fostering Pluralistic and Humanitarian Values”, featuring academics from Türkiye, the United States, Kazakhstan and France
Venue: Logensaal, Logenhaus, Logenstraße 11, Frankfurt (Oder), and via livestream
Media information
Journalists are warmly invited to cover the conference. We would be happy to arrange interviews with individual researchers on the issues addressed during the conference. Professor Timm Beichelt, a political scientist at Viadrina and head of the ValEUs network, is also available for interviews. Please send your preferred topics and interview times by email to presse@europa-uni.de.
About ValEUs
The research and education network, whose full title is “ValEUs. Research & Education Network on Contestations to EU Foreign Policy”, has been funded with €1.2 million through the EU’s Erasmus+ programme for a period of three years since January 2024. Led by the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), the network brings together interdisciplinary research, teaching and public engagement. Its central focus is on how the European Union’s fundamental values are increasingly being called into question and what consequences this has for EU foreign policy.
The network comprises 20 partner institutions across five continents. Its partners include three universities from the European Reform University Alliance (ERUA): Université Paris 8 (France), Roskilde University (Denmark) and the University of the Aegean (Greece). Two of Viadrina’s Ukrainian partner universities – Karazin Kharkiv National University and the Kyiv School of Economics – are also represented. The European perspective is complemented by partners in the United States, Latin America, Kazakhstan and Japan.
Translated by DeepL and edited
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