Participation in this seminar is upon invitation only.

On 31 March 2014, the Clingendael Institute organizes a book launch and expert seminar on how the EU operationalizes its objective for effective multilateralism in various international settings.

Reform has dominated the agenda of the EU in recent years with the adoption and implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. However, various international organisations have also been in reform mode in an attempt to adjust their structure to the changing polarity and to counter criticism concerning a lack of legitimacy, accountability and effectiveness.

This expert seminar explores ways to operationalise the EU’s objective for effective multilateralism, more than ten years after the European Security Strategy adopted this as core objective.

Book launch

Presentations during the seminar will be based on the new book ‘The EU and Effective Multilateralism: Internal and external reform practices’ published by Routledge. The book is edited by Edith Drieskens, Professor at KU Leuven, and Louise van Schaik, Senior Research Fellow at the Clingendael Institute. This book combines insights on reform of EU external representation following the changes made in the Lisbon Treaty. It aims to provide a balanced account of the fit between the EU’s internal reform and external reform of the international settings. and the EU’s positioning in debates on reform of international fora, such as the G20, NATO, and the UNSC.

Organisation and participation

The expert seminar is organised by the Clingendael Institute and the LINES Institute of the KU Leuven, with the support of Permanent Representations of the Netherlands and Belgium to the EU. Participants in the seminar include senior officials from the Member States of the European Union and from the EU Institutions, as well as a limited number of other experts.

Please find below more information about the book and the seminar: