FOURTH SIENA CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE
TIME TO LAND IN THE 21ST CENTURY
8th-10th JUNE 2023
CERTOSA DI PONTIGNANO, SIENA
The last three years have witnessed a further acceleration of the crises (covid19 pandemic, the disruption of globalisation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis) which appear to be defining features of the 21st century. Such frequent and violent shocks are exposing the inadequacy of the institutions and the participation mechanisms which we have been using after WW2 for governing global/complex problems.
The European union is not alien to such a crisis and still suffers from ambiguities and sub optimal half integrations, yet it can still turn a problem into an opportunity for leadership.
The Vision Conferences on the Future of Europe objectives is thus to act as a catalyst of new ideas which can offer "solutions" to specific problems identified by the concept paper and as a promoter of a different approach to the project.
The fourth edition of this initiative will follow a format successfully experimented at the previous Vision conferences on the future of Europe and at the Vision Dolomite Conference on Climate Change.
The problem solving aspect of the Conference will be developed through seven plenary sessions and four problem solving groups. The outputs of these sessions will create a general manifesto proposing a different methods to integrations with an action plan for each of the problems and priorities analysed by each working groups.
There are going to be around 60 participants and 12-14 students from Siena University and from the European University Institute (EUI) which will act as rapporteurs of the working groups and plenary sessions. The Conference will have Intesa Sanpaolo as Main Sponsor, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena as Corporate Partner and Rai Radio 1 as Media Partner.
One of the most distinctive features of the conference is the presence of the political foundations / think tanks of the biggest EU political groups: Foundation of European Progressive Studies for Party of European Socialists (FPES); European Liberal Forum for Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Europe Party (ALDE); New Direction for the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR); Green European Foundation for the European Green Party (EGP).
We envisage that each of the five foundations will oversee one of the plenary sessions around one of their recent papers and to have one MEP for each major political group at the last plenary commenting the Pontignano Paper, the outcome of the entire conference.
This year's chairs will be: Sandro Gozi (European MEP for Renew Europe, former Italy’s Secretary of State for European Affair), Maria Joao Rodrigues (President of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies and former Portugal’s Minister of Employment), John Hooper (Italy and Vatican’s correspondent, The Economist), Kalypso Nicolaïdis (Professor at the St Antony’s College, University of Oxford and Professor at the School of Transnational Governance - EUI).
Among the participants: Romano Prodi (Former Prime Minister of Italy and Former President of the European Commission), Bill Emmott (Former Editor of The Economist), Barbara Kolm (Vice President of the Austrian Central Bank), Jelena Dzankic (Professor in the Global Governance Programme at the Robert Schuman Centre of the EUI, Director of GGP South-eastern Europe and Co-Director of the Global Citizenship Observatory), Catherine E. de Vries (Dean of Diversity & Inclusion and Professor of Political Science at Bocconi University), Fabrizia Lapecorella (Deputy Secretary-General OECD), Erik Berglof (Chief Economist Asian Infrastructure Development Bank), Chiara Carrozza (Programme Coordinator CDS - EUI), Jan Piotrowski (Business Editor of The Economist), Dr. Gerlinde Niehus (Deputy Director Defense and Security Cooperation Directorate OPS), Mario Nava (Directorate - General for Structural Reform Support), Stéphane Bourgeois (leader of the Collaborative Low Energy Vision for the European Region (CLEVER) research project and European relations and policy manager at NEGAWATT, France), Hilde Vautmans (MEP, Renew Europe Group), Dragos Tudorache (MEP, Renew Europe), Rob Roos (MEP – Vice-Chair European Conservatives and Reformists Group), Rosa Martinez (Green European Journal – editorial board and former Spanish MEP), Luca Mezzomo (Head of Macroeconomic Analysis, Intesa Sanpaolo), Andrea Maffezzoni (CFO Banca Monte Paschi di Siena), Clara Neppel (Senior Director – European Business Operations IEEE Technology Centre GmbH), Jan Kickert (Austrian Ambassador in Italy), Antonio Parenti (Head of the European Commission Representation in Italy), Erik Jones (Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute).
Background Papers
Here there are some of the papers, articles and projects that Vision used in support of the research of the Concept Paper.
FROM THE FOUR EUROPEAN FOUNDATIONS (GEF, FEPS, ND, ELF):
European Liberal Forum (ELF) - The New European Defence and Security Agenda (May 2023); Towards a European Defence in 2030 (March 2023); Designed in Brussels, Made in Ukraine: Future of EU-Ukraine Relations (2023).
New Direction (ND) - [coming soon]
Green European Foundation (GEF) - [coming soon]
Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) - Is the Digital Transition a Lever for Structural Reforms or Does it Reinforce the Divide? (May 2023), Making Next Generation EU a Permanent Tool (March 2023); Our European Future. Charting a Progressive Course in the World (2021).
ON DEMOCRACY:
Should the EU make foreign policy decisions by majority voting? - by Leonard Schuette
Qualified Majority Voting in EU Foreign Policy: Make It So - by Niklas Nováky
Flexible Transnational Electoral Constituencies: A Proposal to Europeanise EU Elections - by Francesco Grillo and Raffaella Nanetti
ON DIGITAL:
Tradeoffs in Artificial Intelligence: Proposals for the European Union - A. Amore, A. Ballacchino, S. Rossi (students from the University of Siena), 2023
"Digital infrastructures": definitions, effects on consumers and industries, strategic options to maximize their value - Vision and Value with Amazon's support
Empowering digital citizens. Making humane markets work in the digital age - by Dennis J. Snower and Paul D. Twomey (GIDE, Global Initiative for Digital Empowerment), 28 March 2022
A European approach to artificial intelligence
Why Lawmakers Aren't Rushing to Police AI - New York Times
‘We have to move fast’: US looks to establish rules for artificial intelligence - The Guardian
AI as Agency Without Intelligence: On ChatGPT, Large Language Models, and Other Generative Models - by Luciano Floridi - University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute; University of Bologna- Department of Legal Studies
Europe and AI - by CarloAlberto Carnevale Maffè
THE DIGITAL DECADE: FROM A DIFENSIVE TO A PRO GROWTH APPROACH - Vision with Amazon support
ON ESG:
Financials Threaten to Undermine the Functioning of Emissions Markets, by Quemin, S., Pahle, M. (2022)
Impact of Financial Actors on the European Carbon Market and Potential Measure to Stabilise Prices, by Roques, F., Duquesne, G., Bourcier, F. (2022)
ESG Investing: Practices, Progress and Challenges, report from the OECD (2020)
ON FISCAL:
Reforming the EU Fiscal Framework: Strengthening the Fiscal Rules and Institutions, IMF Departmental Paper No 2022/014
A Central Fiscal Capacity in the EU Policy Mix, by Buti, M., Messori, M. (2022)
The Future of European Fiscal Governance: A Comprehensive Approach, by Romanelli, M., Tommasino, P., Vadalà, E., Occasional Papers No 691, Bank of Italy
OTHERS:
Principali sfide per l’attuazione del PNRR1 - by SDA Bocconi
Webinars towards the Siena Conference
SPEAKERS
Media
To receive more information please contact Giorgia Caianiello (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
