European Symposium at the Royal Palace

The conference’s guest speakers will discuss different aspects of European Integration. Speeches will be followed by discussions with VIPs in the audience and by a panel discussion with the press.

A walking dinner will conclude the event.

Programme of the Symposium:

Welcome speech: HM King Albert II

Introduction: Karel De Gucht, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Guest Speakers (7-10 minutes each)

Mr. H.G. Pöttering, President of the European Parliament, “The political meaning of the 50th anniversary” (tbc)

Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of the Republic of Latvia, “The historic significance of European integration”

Mr. Giuliano Amato, Italian Interior Minister, Chairman of the EU "Wise Group", "European integration from an institutional perspective"

Dr. Fotis Kafatos, Professor of Immunogenomics at Imperial College, London, and President of the European Research Council, London, "Why is European integration important for scientific innovation?"

Mrs. Signhild Arnegård Hansen (still to be confirmed), Member of the Board of the Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Chairman of the Board of Young Enterprise (Sweden) and Vice Chair of UNICE’s Entrepreneurship & SME Committee, "Entrepreneurship in the EU"

Mrs. Christine Ockrent, French journalist, "The European values and identity"

Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, Professor at Columbia University and Nobel Prize winner in Economics, "What does the world expect from the EU?"