The question of a multispeed Europe being central to the debate on EU reform, on 22 May the Institute’s Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy brought together leading voices on democratisation of EU politics to discuss whether giving European member states more freedom to form partial alliances and set specific policies would encourage further integration or risk splitting the EU. Professor Grégoire Mallard moderated a panel featuring former Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, former Vice-President of the European Parliament Ulrike Lunacek and Professor Till van Rahden of Montreal University.

On the eve of the event, Shalini Randeria, Director of the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy discussed the problems of a multi-speed Europe with President Rosen Plevneliev. “I prefer to talk about a multi-track Europe,“ said Mr Plevneliev. “Europe has a lot of integration projects which countries can join: the Eurozone, Schengen, the energy union, the banking union, defence policy...  each has countries that are in and countries that are out, and each offers the possibility of integration. If the EU wants to stay strong and sustainable, it has to continue integrating.”

Mr Plevneliev expressed his fears about the rise of nationalism and populism in Italy, Germany and elsewhere, saying populist parties were using the European Union as a convenient excuse for national mismanagement. Learn more in the short video below.