On May 18th, 2017, the symposium on “the Future of the European Integration” was held in Tongji University. This symposium was jointly sponsored and organized by the Center for German Studies and the Center for European Studies of Tongji University, and Shanghai Institute for European Studies (SIES). Focusing on the possible directions of the European integration in future, the participants of this symposium made discussions and exchanged their ideas on the issues related to the trends of the European Union, elaborating and debating their opinions from a variety of perspectives, such as the strategic pattern of the whole world, the “Multi-Speed” Europe, the Brexit, the monetary integration of Eurozone, the influence of the United States, and the France-Germany axis.
The scholars on this symposium argued that the European Union is not the entirety of the European integration, but merely its “representative image”. The European integration is a dynamic and continuously developing process. This process will not be blocked by the Brexit. Nor will it be moving forward as people had imagined in the past. The only practicable path for the future of Europe should be a process of European integration adapted to the trends of globalization, and the only viable path for European integration should be a reform.
The participants of this symposium included: Mr. CUI Hongjian from China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), Mr. TIAN Dewen and Ms. YANG Xiepu from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Prof. XU Mingqi and Prof. WU Yikang from Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), Prof. YE Jiang from Shanghai Institute of International Studies (SIIS), Prof. ZHENG Chunrong and Prof. ZHU Miaomiao from Tongji University, Prof. ZHANG Yongan and Prof. SHI Shijun from the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Prof. HE Qisong from the Shanghai Normal University, Prof. JIAN Junbo from Fudan University, Prof. XIN Hua from the Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), Dr. CAO Ziheng and Dr. YANG Haifeng from Shanghai Institute for European Studies (SIES), and some journalists from the Jiafang Daily and the Paper. Altogether there were over 20 participants taking part in this symposium.
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