The decade of polycrisis of the 2010s has seen a strong consolidation of the politicisation debates on the EU. On the one hand, the EU is increasingly constrained by public opinion. On the other one, policisation has the potential to bring citizens closer to the EU. However, the context under which politicisation happens is being transformed by the consolidation of populist parties, the disruption of public spheres and the post-COVID changed political scenario. It means that politicisation is currently a multifaceted phenomenon with diverse origins and diverse effects.

09.30 – 10.00 Registration and Welcome

10.00 – 12.00 Which links between politicisation and democracy in the EU? 

• More than conflict: choice expansion in a poststructuralist reading of EU politicization . Niels Gheyle (UCLouvain) & Thomas Jacobs (Université
  Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
• EU’s ‘Eastern Discontents’ – When ‘Top-down’ and ‘Bottom-up’ Politicisation collide – the case of Romania Dragoș Ioniță, (National University
  of Political Studies and Public Administration, (Bucharest)
• Evidences of EU politicisation in subnational executives: a research agenda – Andreu Teruel (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

• Conceptual disputes on the EU in the Catalan Independence movement – Antonio Álvarez García (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

• Can we rule the economy? Limited democracy and the rise of authoritarianism– Alberto Sánchez González (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) 

12.00 – 14.00 Networking lunch and publication opportunities

14.00 – 17.00 How much politicisation is helpful for the EU? Panel discussion with Gary Marks, Claudia Wiesner, Hans-Jörg Trenz, Simona Guerra and Niilo Kauppi