Harvard: Sold-out conference on the 2024 European elections
EU elections discussed at Harvard
Harvard: Sold-out conference on the 2024 European elections
The European Parliament Liaison Office in Washington DC and the Directorate General for Parliamentary Democracy Partnerships take the European Parliament to the student-run Harvard European Conference, which marked its 10th-anniversary edition this year.
The prestigious annual conference brought together top MEPs, EU political figures and, high-level civil servants, academics, and practitioners from across Europe and the U.S. who traveled to Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on February 9 and 10 to discuss the challenges facing Europe today.
The conference speakers included, amongst others, European Commissioners Paolo Gentiloni, Elisa Ferreira, and Maroš Šefčovič, EEAS Secretary General Stefano Sannino, and EU Ambassador to the United States Jovita Neliupsiene.
The European Parliament’s presence at the conference centered around a European Parliament panel debate with the participation of EP Vice President Dita Charanzová (Renew), EP Vice President Robert Zīle (ECR), Frances Fitzgerald, MEP (EPP) and Brando Benifei, MEP (S&D). The debate focused on the upcoming European Union elections and the challenges the EU is facing in 2024.
The captivating discussion between the EU lawmakers saw the members of the European Parliament presenting the positions of their political groups on issues such as migration, the EU single market, the war in Ukraine, European security and defense, relations with China, EU enlargement and treaty changes, and last but not least, EU-US relations. The sold-out hall of European and U.S. students and academics listened thoroughly, engaged, and lined up with pertinent questions in the Q&A part of the debate. Many left the hall wanting to learn more about EU democracy, the European Parliament, and the EU legislative system.