Geopolitics & Values: what is the real power of the EU?

IED Winter Academy 2020, Webinar

19.12.2020

Video Statement by Francesco Rutelli, IED President

Video Statement by Professor Joseph Nye

On Saturday 19 December 2020, the IED held its annual Winter Academy with the Young Democrats for Europe (YDE). It aims to prepare young people from all of Europe to better understand the European political context as well as taking an active role in the democratic process. The Winter Academy also highlights the work achieved with the IED call for papers. The 2020 theme was: Geopolitics & Values: what is the real power of the EU?.

The 2020 Winter Academy gathered 34 participants from 12 different countries and regions (Basque Country, Balears, Canaries, France, Italia, San Marino, Romania, Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Croatia, Slovakia). Because of the pandemic, the meeting was held on Zoom.

To make it as collaborative as we can, we have used different tools such as Padlet (for icebreaker and brainstorming), Sli.do for interactivity and the breakout rooms of Zoom in order to allow small groups to work together.

On the content, numerous speakers were invited by the IED. After receiving welcome words from both the President of the YDE, Asier Areito and the President of the IED, Francesco Rutelli, Professor Nye, internationally recognised for his work on soft and hard power, gave an introductory speech to the participants.

Following that speech, two young experts that took part in the IED call for papers gave a keynote conference on the topic. Jacopo Giraudo, Adjunct Lecturer in History of International Relations at the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society of the University of Turin, talked about multilateralism and identity. And Sara S. Velasco, a double major in Law and political sciences at Universidad Carlos III, lectured the participants about the privacy issues especially regarding the contact tracing app used during the pandemic.