The Centre

The Centre organises a discussion on the future relations between Europe and its member States, looking in particular at Germany and the UK. With the establishment of its Liberal-Conservative coalition government, the UK now mirrors Germany. But the two countries clearly have very different ideas of Europe. Can they work together on thorny issues such as the revitalisation of the Eurozone and budgetary reform? Or even make full use of the Lisbon Treaty? Or does this new era for these large member states in fact herald an age of zero-sum pragmatism and stagnation?

With its member States failing to commit on the onerous but crucial aspects for the future of European integration, a financial situation which threatens to pit member state against member state and a new Treaty that creates foreign policy structures before their real purpose has been laid down, is there a strong need for member countries, particularly those previously resistant to supranational influence, to show commitment and leadership in the EU?
Roderick Parkes, Head of the Brussels’ office of the German Institute for International Relations - SWP, David Rennie, Brussels correspondent for The Economist and Jochen Bitten, Brussels correspondent from Die Zeit will try to answer those questions. The discussion will be moderated by Bertrand Deprez, The Centre.