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The fifth annual Johan Willem Beyen lecture will be given by Caroline de Gruyter on 11 October 2022 to celebrate European Governance Day in Utrecht. The lecture is entitled: Europe: As good as it gets?

On European Governance Day, the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance of Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ celebrates the prestigious interdisciplinary European Governance Master’s programme together with current students, alumni and partner institutions. Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ offers this master’s programme in collaboration with ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ College Dublin, Konstanz ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and Masaryk ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ in Brno. European Governance graduates are active at the highest levels at the EU institutions and in European affairs elsewhere.

Programme

• 16.15-16.30 hrs. Reception with coffee and tea (USG Central reception Hall – ground floor entrance)
• 16.30-16.35 hrs. Word of welcome by prof. Elaine Mak (USG lecture hall, 0.24, ground floor)
• 16.35-17.15 hrs. Johan Willem Beyen Lecture by Caroline de Gruyter (USG lecture hall, 0.24, ground floor)
• 17.15-17.45 hrs. Discussion & Q&A - moderated by Prof. Wieger Bakker, Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ dean for life-long learning. (USG lecture hall, 0.24, ground floor)
• 17.45-18.45 hrs. Drinks (USG restaurant – first floor)

Registration

All Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ staff and students are welcome to attend this event. Registration is mandatory, so please use this .

Caroline de Gruyter

European Governance Day will culminate in the fifth annual Johan Willem Beyen lecture. This year’s lecture will be held by , Brussel-based journalist, Europe correspondent and columnist for the leading Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad and a regular contributor to Foreign Policy, EUobserver and De Standaard. In 2021, De Gruyter published the book Beter wordt het niet which has now also been translated in German (Das Habsburgerreich - Inspiration für Europa?). In the book, she explores what lessons Europe can draw from the Habsburg Empire: Could Europe’s weaknesses actually be its strength? And should we finally accept the EU as it is: a benign empire of sorts, in permanent change, unfinished per definition? 

Johan Willem Beyen

Johan Willem (Wim) Beyen (1897–1976) was an alumnus from the Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ School of Law. He was a banker, civil servant, politician and diplomat. From 1952 – 1956 he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Wim Beyen is regarded  one of the founding fathers of the European Union. In the early fifties, when initiatives to intensify political cooperation and integration between Germany, France, Italy and the Benelux-countries seemed to fail, he developed a plan for a European Common Market in combination with a political community. His initiative formed an import foundation for the Treaties of Rome of 1957 and the development of a European Economic Community.

This lecture is organised in collaboration with the EU platform of Institutions for Open Societies, one of the strategic themes of Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ.