The future of the European Union
‘European variations are the key to cooperation’, argued Professor Ernst Hirsch Ballin at the first conference of the BRIDGE project, held in Dublin on 30 and 31 October.
The BRIDGE project
The Brexit Research and Interchange on Differentiated Governance in Europe (BRIDGE) project is an initiative of the Brexit Institute, the University of Bolzano/Bozen, the University of Copenhagen and the Central European University (CEU). Over the next three years, the institute will conduct research into the links between Brexit and other European challenges such as the Euro crisis, migration crisis and the the rule of law crisis. The aim is to arrive at shared solutions that are relevant across the continent and to explore new forms of differentiated governance.
Variation in cooperation and policy-making
At the conference, Professor Ernst Hirsch Ballin spoke about the WRR’s report on European variations, which sets out how the 30 member states of the European Union can continue to work together in a productive and constructive manner, and the extent to which this cooperation should or should not focus on bringing about uniformity. Variation provides the space and flexibility to work together to achieve security, stability, prosperity and social protection.
The English translation of the European Variations report will be published shortly as part of the Springer Research for Policy series, under the title: ‘European variations as a key to cooperation’.