FIIA Forum 2024: The European Union in a year of change

By Manuel Müller

Yesterday, 20^th March, the FIIA Forum – the annual flagship event of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs – took place. This year it was dedicated to “the European Union in a year of change”.

The four sessions included:

• a keynote speech by Finnish foreign minister Elina Valtonen (Kok./EPP), chaired by Juha Jokela (FIIA),
  
• a panel debate about the EU’s role in the world, with Elizabeth Sidiropoulos (South African Institute of International Affairs), Toni Haastrup (University of Manchester) and Ilke Toygür (IE School of Politics), chaired by Niklas Helwig (FIIA),
• a panel debate about the upcoming European Parliament elections and the rise of the far right, with Sophia Russack (CEPS), Johanna Kantola (University of Helsinki) and Manuel Müller (FIIA), chaired by Sanna Salo (FIIA),
• and a high-level session with Finnish EU minister Anders Adlercreutz (SFP/ALDE) and Kristi Raik (ICDS), chaired by Tyyne Karjalainen (FIIA).

If you weren’t able to join us in person, don’t worry: the event was webstreamed and a recorded version can be found on the FIIA YouTube channel. Have a look, it’s worth the watch!

The recording of the full event is available here. To go directly to a specific session, please use the links below:

• Opening remarks by Mikael Mattlin and Juha Jokela (10:36)
• Keynote session: Speech by Elina Valtonen (19:59)
• Keynote session: Elina Valtonen in dialogue with Juha Jokela (31:56)
• Panel I: The European Union in a changing world (50:25)
• Panel I: Keynote remarks by Elizabeth Sidiropoulos (56:50)
• Panel I: Discussion (1:20:24)
• Coffee break – not much to see here, really (2:15:14)
• Panel II: The European Parliament elections and their impact (2:43:56)
• Panel II: Introductory statements (2:46:50)
• Panel II: Discussion (3:08:46)
• High-level session: EU enlargement and reform (3:50:28)
• High-level session: Speech by Anders Adlercreutz (3:52:18)
• High-level session: Discussion (4:00:23)
• Concluding remarks by Juha Jokela (4:35:00)
  

Picture: FIIA.