Vienna – Freedom of movement in Europe - dream or nightmare in a populist age?

15 September 2011
US soldier patrolling Kosovo's border. Photo: US Department of Defence/ R. D. Ward
US soldier patrolling Kosovo's border. Photo: US Department of Defence/R. D. Ward

Erste Stiftung and European Stability Initiative (ESI)
invite you to a public debate (in English) on:

Freedom of movement in Europe –
dream or nightmare in a populist age?

Thursday, 15 September 2011, 7 pm
RadioKulturhaus
Argentinierstraße 30a, 1040 Vienna

 

"Political frontiers … in other times they would be displaced by violent conquest or convenient marriage. Today it will be sufficient to devalue them."

Robert Schuman, Pour l'Europe, 1963

"I did not join Europe to have free movement of terrorists, criminals, drugs, plant and animal disease and rabies, and illegal migrants"

Margaret Thatcher, Daily Mail, 18 May 1989

Gerald Knaus – Ruben Zaiotti – Bajram rexhepi – Tanja Fajon – Dejan Anastasijevic
Gerald Knaus – Ruben Zaiotti – Bajram Rexhepi – Tanja Fajon – Dejan Anastasijevic
     

Moderator:

  

Gerald Knaus (Istanbul)
European Stability Initiative (ESI). Member of the Schengen White List project advisory group working on visa liberalization issues in the Balkans and Turkey. Author of Can Intervention Work?
     

Panelists:

  

Bajram Rexhepi (Pristina)
Minister of internal affairs of Kosovo. Former prime minister of Kosovo. Former mayor of the divided city of Mitrovica.

Tanja Fajon (Ljubljana/Brussels)
Slovenian member of the European Parliament. Played a leading role during the process of visa liberalization for the Western Balkans.

Dejan Anastasijevic (Brussels)
Serbian journalist and author, previously writer for Time and Vreme, currently head of the Brussels office of Tanjug.

Ruben Zaiotti (Halifax, Canada)
Author of Cultures of Border Control: Schengen and the Evolution of European Frontiers. Author most recently of "The Italo-French Row over Schengen and the Lessons of Past 'Crises' for the Future of Border Free Europe".
     

Introduction, panel discussion, and questions from the audience

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Introduction, panel discussion, and questions from the audience.
Audio: ERSTE Stiftung. All rights reserved.

 

Ruben Zaiotti on the past and the future of the Schengen regime

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Ruben Zaiotti on the past and the future of the Schengen regime.
Video: Ruben Zaiotti. All rights reserved.

What is the future of Europe's borders?

Does the future belong to the bold vision of a borderless continent, in which land-borders are being dismantled and visa requirements lifted for all Europeans?

Or will it be determined by fears and promises that the only way to ensure security is to restore national border controls?

Is Europe's future symbol today's abandoned border posts between Austria and its neighbours?  Or will it be new walls, such as the one promised to be built to separate Greece and Turkey?

Does a vision of a borderless Europe make resolving border conflicts easier, since "borders will matter less"? Or is the deadly violence in July this year along the border between Kosovo and Serbia a reminder that even now some borders remain the "razor's edge" of nations and a source of future conflict?

Is full freedom of movement a realistic project, a dream or a nightmare for citizens of today's European Union?

The former Slovenian-Italian border. Photo: Unknown
The former Slovenian-Italian border. Photo: Unknown

The event will take place in English. ERSTE Foundation is delighted to invite you for a glass of wine afterwards.

Entrance is free, but please register at +43(0)1 501 70-337 or via e-mail at radiokulturhaus@orf.at.

For background please also visit the ESI website www.whitelistproject.eu which is a rich source for information on all issues related to the European border revolution.

We look forward to welcoming you to this event.

European Stability Initiative (ESI)