9.00-9.15 CET – Registration of online participants and welcoming remarks

9.15-9.30 – Short presentation of the OpenEU Debate network and opening statements – SNSPA and UAM

9.30-11.00 Session 1 The ‘Geopolitical ‘ Commission and the divided Member states – how is the EU managing the COVID crisis?This panel will assess the EU’s reactions in the face of the challenges brought by the pandemic, from different perspectives such as EU institutions, EU policies, the criticisms raised by some member states and the controversies around some economic measures and in the end it will aim to map possible evolutions for the future.

Moderator: Miruna Butnaru Troncotă (SNSPA)

Speakers: Elena García Guitián (UAM, Spain); Ramona Coman (ULB, Belgium; Clara Volintiru (Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania); Radu Magdin (Smart Link Communications/ SNSPA, Romania); Luis Bouza Garcia (UAM, Spain)

11.00-11.30 CET – break

11.30-13.00 CET Session 2 The European media facing the crisis: issues, challenges and policy responses

This panel will focus on understanding the issues and challenges faced by the media and in particular by journalists and in discussing short, medium and long term strategies to support overcome the current crisis.

Moderator: Luciano Morganti (VUB)

Speakers (bios): Beatriz Becerra (Researcher at UAM, MEP 2014-2019, Spain); Vincent Peyregne, CEO WAN-Ifra (https://www.wan-ifra.org); Christophe Leclercq, Chairman Fondation Euractiv (https://fondationeuractiv.eu); Alvaro Oleart (VUA, Netherlands); Renate Schroeder, Director EFJ (https://europeanjournalists.org)

13.00-14.00 Lunch break

14.00-15.00 Concluding remarks – main take aways and ways forward
Moderator: Taru Haapala (UAM)