The
7th conference of the ECSA-World was held on
30 November and 1 December in Brussels, with the theme:
“The European Union and the Emerging World Orders: Perceptions
and Strategies”. More than 400 scholars from some 50 countries
and regions the world over attended the conference; Prof.
Dai Bingran, Jean Monnet Chair of the Centre for European
Studies, Fudan University, and Prof. Song Xinning, Director
and Jean Monnet Chair of the Centre for European Studies,
Renmin University participated as the representatives from
China.
Mr.
Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, President of the European Commission
delivered a speech at the opening session, pointing out
that in face of the current challenges, the EU has to shoulder
up the responsibilities of an international play, to formulate
and implement a unified foreign and security policy, and
to provided the policy with necessary and effective instruments.
Other guest speakers invited by the conference included:
Mr. Boutros Boutros Ghali, former Secretary-Generl of the
United Nation; Mr. Federico Mayor, former Director General
of UNESCO; Prof. Gil Carlos Roderiguez Iglessias, former
President of the Court of Justice of the European Communities;
Prof. Jose Maria Gil-Robles, former President of the European
Parliament; Prof. baltasar Garzon Real, Magistrate of the
Spanish Nationl High Court; Prof. Bronislav Geremek, former
Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Jan Figel, Member
of the European Commission in charge of cultural and educational
affaires.
During
the 2 days, participants made presentations and interventions
around topics such as: “The Role of the Academic Community
in Developing a Global Governance Culture”, “The EU, Economic
Governance, Natural Resources and Human Development”, “The
EU, Threats of Globalisation and the Role of International
Law”, “The EU as a Model for Rule-Based World Order”, etc.
Prof. Song Xinning was invited to make an intervention on
the enlightenments of European integration as a model to
Asia and China.
The
conference expressed a general concerning to the accentuated
development of unilateralism and the repeated violences
of international law and world order, and evaluated the
values, structures and roles of European integration as
a model of global governance. The 3 terms “peaceful reconciliation”,
“inter-cultural dialogue” and “global governance” seemed
to best represent the perceptions of the conference to the
new world orders.
Before
the conference, on 29 November, Prof. Dai Bingran took parted
in, on behalf of the CSEUS, the meeting of the presidents
of the national ECSAs, at which Prof. Antonio Papista, President
of the ECSA-World reported on its work and activities in
the past 2years, and Prof. Manuel Carlos Lopes Porto of
Coimbra University (Poetugal) was elected as the new President. |
