Jean Monnet Conference in Moscow

On 19-20 April I was invited by the European Commission to participate in the Jean Monnet Conference ‘Excellence in EU Studies’ in Moscow, Russia. The conference, whose purpose was to strengthen EU Integration Studies at Russian universities, was taking place at difficult times. EU-Russia relations have seen challenging patterns of Russian behaviour, with the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, the war in Irak, Russian meddling in Western elections and referenda from the US to the UK and the hacking of the German Bundestag, and most recently the Salisbury poisoning.

In this highly tense context, the conference was a welcome opportunity to provide a framework for improving a dialogue based on communication and mutual understanding. It is particularly in difficult times that dialogue needs to be nurtured. This dialogue was not limited to Russian and Western academics. High representatives from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the EU Commission and the EU Delegation in Russia were also actively involved in the two days. Whilst participants were largely Russian academics, several members of the Jean Monnet global academic community came from Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Greece, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the US. There were no Ukrainian representatives. I was, with a Greek colleague from Portsmouth, the sole representative from a UK university.  

Participants were able to engage in a fruitful exchange of experiences and ideas on current Jean Monnet projects, learn from each other’s views, build mutual understanding, discuss potential cooperations, and consider what unites the EU and Russia rather than what divides them. There is a need to act in the field of academic cooperation and shape a European academic area that comprises the whole European continent including Russia. With 91 Jean Monnet projects being currently implemented in the Russian Federation and growing academic interest, the wisdom of promoting academic mobility and international exchanges as a catalyst for building trust did not have to be demonstrated.

I am grateful to the European Commission for sending me in the most unusual locations outside Europe, such as Russia, but also Lebanon, Tunisia, Georgia, and more recently Tanzania, Kanya and Uganda as part of my Jean Monnet Network ‘The EU, Africa and China in the Global Age’. It is always a honour to represent European values and the spirit of Jean Monnet in all parts of the world.