A New Year message from
Peter Luff, Chairman of the European Movement UK

You can also see Peter Luff's earlier comments on the new European Treaty, with links to further background sources.

Monday 21 January 2008
the Annual General Meeting
was held in Brighton, at the Brighthelm Centre.

Home study days
Study Days are usually 3 hour afternoon events, held in a private house.
Check here for any plans during 2008.
The visit of colleagues from Aumühle involves several study topics (below).

Presidency lunches

It is a tradition that the branch organises a lunch or dinner twice a year, with an expert speaker to review the work taken on by the country holding the current Presidency of the European Council.

Slovenija holds the EU Presidency from January to June 2008,
this summer's event will be an evening dinner, to be held on 17 July (more below).

European events in neighbouring areas

This page will show events in Kent, London and Surrey which might be interesting for members from Sussex.  We shall also list separately events planned by the Eastbourne branch.

Friday 25 April,  2 pm to 5.30 pm
at the London Metropolitan University, 31 Jewry Street, London  EC3N 2EY



The European Parliament in an Enlarged EU:
Beyond the Lisbon Treaty

Opening address by Andrew Duff MEP:
"The European Parliament and the European demos".

Further speakers include
Dr Andreas Maurer, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik Berlin,
Dermot Scott, Head of the European Parliament Office in the UK,
Professor Simona Piattoni, University of Trento,
Professor Edward Best, European Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht,
Brendan Donnelly, The Federal Trust.

Download the full programme here (PDF)
to register, contact Ulrike Rüb-Taylor - 0207 320 3045

Wednesday 30 April,  organised by CentreForum
at the Carteret Room, 1 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1H 9BT, 6.30 to 8 pm

Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Enlargement
Does the EU have to choose between widening and deepening ?

Refreshments will be available from 6.15 pm.  For more information, or to register,
please call 020 7340 1160 or e-mail info@centreforum.org

Friday 16 and Saturday 17 May, a 2-day conference
organised by the University Association for Contemporary European Studies
at the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (formerly the   DTI), London

Energising Europe
– Climate change, energy security & Europe's next big project

a wide range of speakers includes:
Jason Anderson, Senior Fellow and Head of Climate Change Programme,
Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)
Roxanne Decyk, Corporate Affairs Director of Royal Dutch Shell plc
Phil Woolas MP, DEFRA, Minister of State for the Environment
Sir Ken Collins, Former Chair of the European Parliament's Environment Committee and Member,
High Level Advisory Group on Energy, the Environment & Competitiveness
Keith Allott, WWF European Policy Office
Sue Harrison, Head of European Energy Markets,
Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform

For detailed information on the conference programme, and to register, go to UACES

Friday 23 May 2008
Life after Lisbon ?

a one-day special event, organised in association with the European Institute
of Sussex University, looks at issues in the future of Europe after the Treaty of Lisbon.
The event will also commemorate the life of François Duchêne – a man close to the founding of what has now become the European Union.

Click to see the full programme and booking information.

François Duchêne who died in 2006 was an administrator, a policy analyst, an academic, a published poet, a keen musician and an enthusiast for a united Europe. He was present at the birth of modern integrated Europe as an assistant to Jean Monnet when he was setting up the European Coal and Steel Community, a precursor to and an inspiration for the European Union as we know it today. He was founding director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, professor and Director of the Centre for European Studies and finally emeritus professor in the University of Sussex. He was author of a hugely admired and influential biography of Jean Monnet. All of his life he was an enthusiastic member of the European Movement and the Sussex branch in particular.

The commemorative event will also launch a Bursary for travel and research expenses
for Research Students of the University of Sussex in any discipline to:

Pursue field work in continental Europe connected with their thesis on issues of European Integration broadly construed or,

Contribute to a collaborative project in another European country and connected to their research.

This bursary is being set up with funding from Sussex European Institute, friends of François
and from members of the Sussex branch of the European Movement,
and will be administered by Sussex European Institute.

Friday-Sunday 27-30 June 2008
 
Study weekend with guests from Germany

The branch will be hosting guests from Aumühle in Germany for a study weekend
and social evening on Sunday 30 June.

Some possible topics suggested have been:
   the UK and Germany - similarities and differences in attitudes to Europe
   European education (how it is introduced into the German school curriculum,
and comparisons with "citizenship" courses in Sussex)
   Europe after the Treaty of Lisbon
   global issues and European policies towards the wider world

Do let the Secretary know now, if you would like to take part.
More information here later.

Citizenship in schools

The Sussex branch has been working with the advisory teams of West Sussex Children and Young People Services to support the Europe theme included in the secondary school citizenship curriculum.

Launched at a teachers' training conference in Crawley on 27 March, an opportunity has been organised by Sarah Leigh for a group of teachers to go to Brussels on 15-16 July to see how the EU works and consider how to engage with it in their teaching.  The group will visit the three most important institutions - the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission.

It is hoped to extend this partnership to East Sussex and Brighton & Hove in future.
Anyone with an interest in this next step should contact the Secretary in the first instance.

Presidency dinner

Thursday 17 July 2008, 7 pm for 7.30 pm
in the Sussex Room of the Birch Hotel, Haywards Heath

Slovenija holds the EU Presidency from January to June 2008,
this event will be an evening dinner, being planned for mid July.
The guest speaker will be Francis King, the first Director of the British Council in Slovenija 

Check here soon for more details, the menu and a registration form.

A date for your diary:

Wednesday 3 December 2008
Annual General Meeting

to be held in the Saxon Room of the Steyning Centre.