Symposium on the “EU under the Impacts of the Three Major Crises” Was Held in Fudan University

    On the afternoon of November 15^th of 2015, special symposium on “Debt, Refugees, and Ukraine: the EU under the Impacts of the Three Major Crises” was held in the Building of Social Sciences of Fudan University. This symposium was sponsored and organized by the Shanghai Institute for European Studies and co-organized by the School of Internatof the symposium. And then the symposium was presided by Prof. ZHENG Chunrong and Prof. YE Jiang. On this symposium, presentations were made by Prof. XU Mingqi, Prof. LIU Jun, Prof. WU Huiping, and Prof. WU Yikang over the issues related to the major three crises that the EU has to face at the present: debt, refugees, and Ukraine. They analyzed the influences of these three crises over the pace of the European integration and the EU itself. Other scholars and experts also participated into the discussions with unique ideas and impressive opinions. In his concluding remarks, Prof. XU Mingqi pointed out that the clashes of various interests of different international players against the background of globalization demand that a commonwealth of interests should be built. Some impacts on EU brought by these crises might be purely external, but it turned out that they were very difficult to be handled once they were cemented to EU’s internal problems. Some crises might be caused by EU’s own historical mistakes, which not only damaged the interests of others, but also harmed the Europe’s own interests. Currently the EU is making an effort to get itself adapted to new challenges and has already established some mechanisms or measures. More measures and mechanisms are still being designed or planned by the EU. So the EU is undergoing a process of profound changes. We shall be neither over-optimistic nor excessively pessimistic towards the future. The debates and discussions made by scholars offered rich contents and provided new revelations for further researches. Thanks to the enthusiasm of the participants, this symposium became a complete success. ional Relations and Public Affairs of the Fudan University. It was participated in by over 50 scholars from prestigious academic institutions in Shanghai, such as the Fudan University, Tongji University, Shanghai International Studies University, East China Normal University, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and Shanghai Institute of International Studies. Prof. XU Mingqi and Prof. CHEN Zhimin addressed the opening.