WE-UE
Project reference: 612070-EPP-1-2019-1-IT-EPPJMO-PROJECT
ABOUT
In the past few decades, the European Union (EU) has undertaken significant efforts in constructing a transnational common European memory with the aim to add legitimacy to the European project and foster European identity. The configuration of European identity through Europeanisation of memory forms a crucial feature of the European integration, which especially since 2004 not only includes political and economic integration but also its third pillar: the cultural integration. This means that all EU member states have to come to terms with their own national non-democratic past in an unbiased way (by recognizing, for example, national crimes committed in the Holocaust), yet at the same time embracing common European values. Moreover, dealing with the past has become the precondition for EU accession, and a proof of belonging to the Europe of Values.
Today, however, Europe finds itself in the throes of its worst political crisis since WWII. Across the continent nationalism is at rise, traditional concepts of nation and nation-state have made a great comeback, while anti-European radical sentiments are attracting widespread support. Divisive, openly illiberal memory politics and legislation represent a mounting phenomenon in both EU member states and (potential) candidate countries, thus threatening not only the democratic structure of European states, but also the future of the whole European project.
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The Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Project "We, the People of the United Europe: Reflections on the European State of Mind" is expected to promote discussions and reflections on the Future of Europe with specific focus to challenges, current policies, legal regulations and future possible prospects of European memory and identity.
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Objectives:
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stimulate excellence in teaching and research;
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contribute to the development of research-led teaching;
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enhance the current knowledge and understanding of European memory and identity;
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enhance the linkage between academia and policy-makers in the area of European cultural integration;
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contribute to the development of research-led policy making;
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contribute to the creation of long-lasting partnership between different institutions involved in the project;
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consolidate the cooperation between the project team;
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advance professional, teaching and research skills of young academics;
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foster cultural bounds between EU member states and candidate countries;
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make the idea of Europe more tangible for its citizens;
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enhance active citizenship.
Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module "EU Enlargement and Constitutional Transitions in the Western Balkans," Department of Legal Science, University of Udine. Project coordinator: Laura Montanari
The Module “EU Enlargement and Constitutional Transitions in the Western Balkans” (EU&WB) is aimed at investigating the relationship between Europeanization and democratic consolidation in the former Yugoslav republics. It focuses on the EU’s democratic conditionality to evaluate the constitutional choices of the Western Balkans, and reflect, at the same time, on the construction of the European identity. The Module refers in particular to those principles and values that constitute the EU accession criteria, but that also need to be reaffirmed inside the EU, in order to prevent the further spread of nationalist populism, which today represents a threat to the survival of the EU itself.
WE-UE is currently collaborating and creating synergies with:
Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module "Anthropology of European Union, Faculty of Philosophy," University of Belgrade. Project coordinator: Milos Milenkovic
The Jean Monnet Module Anthropology of European Union (AEUM) is an innovative teaching project, with the aim of integrating research and teaching on EU-related issues at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade and fostering academically-based policy-oriented dialogue with extra-academic stakeholders. AEUM aims to integrate research and teaching on social and cultural processes of Europeanisation and to publicly disseminate anthropological knowledge on social complexity and cultural multiplicity of EU through a series of public events.
Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development (CCSDD)
The CCSDD is a research partnership between the School of Law of the University of Bologna and the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy. The CCSDD conducts research and training in the field of comparative constitutional law, focusing on countries undergoing a process of democratic transition. Through conferences, workshops, publications, summer schools, study trips, and speaker series, the CCSDD addresses issues of civil society development and legal reform. The Center's current research focuses on EU enlargement, contemporary political and constitutional transformations in North Africa, the role of constitutional courts in Central Asia, as well as electoral management bodies. Each year, the CCSDD conducts a number of programs including the "European Union and Legal Reform" Summer School in Montenegro, the Sarajevo Study Trip, and the CCSDD Lecture Series.
