The Spanish Section of Association of European Journalists is organising a new edition of its Seminar on Europe next Wednesday, September 30, at the headquarters of the Fundación Diario Madrid (14 Larra Street, Madrid), under the title “What place is left for the EU?”.
The event will bring together diplomats, economists, defence experts and journalists to analyse the role of the European Union in an international scenario marked by growing geopolitical competition, security threats and the economic consequences of war.
The day will open at 9:30 a.m. with welcoming remarks by Encarna Samitier, president of the Association of European Journalists, after which the first session will begin, “Donald Trump and the shrinking of spaces. What place is left for the EU?”, featuring Joan Llorach, industrial engineer, economic analyst and co-author of Las cuentas y los cuentos de la independencia, and Juan González Barba, diplomat and writer and former Secretary of State for the European Union. The debate will be moderated by Ángeles Blanco, vice president of the APE and editor of Telecinco News.
At 11:30 a.m. the second session will begin, “The need to command respect. EU and Defense”, with the participation of Gustavo Palomares Lerma, director of the Gutiérrez Mellado Institute; Major General Enrique Silvela, director of the Security and Defense Coordination and Studies Division; and José María de Areilza, professor at Esade and secretary general of Aspen Institute Spain. Emilia Pérez, director of International Information at the EFE Agency, will moderate.
The third and final session, at 1:00 p.m., will be entitled “Living as Europeans in times of war. Economic consequences of war threats”. Participants will include Alfonso Dastis, former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Maite Cordero, Head of Communications for Iberia at the European Investment Bank (EIB); and Raymond Torres, director of Economic Outlook at Funcas. The session will be moderated by Amanda Mars, El País’s economics correspondent.
The 38th Seminar on Europe continues an initiative of the Association of European Journalists that began in July 1989, four months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, with the aim of analyzing the situation of the countries of Central Europe. Since then, the event has progressively broadened its scope of analysis until becoming a leading forum for addressing the evolution of the European Union and relations among its member states.
The new edition thus proposes a reflection on the place that belongs to the European Union in a changing international context, with particular attention to its capacity to respond to security and defense challenges and to the economic repercussions of a prolonged scenario of war threats.
