Marianne Backes, Director of the CVCE, Tim Hitchcock from the University of Sussex and René Leboutte from the University of Luxembourg present their conclusions at the end of the DHLU 2013 Symposium.

Interview with Álvaro de Vasconcelos, co-founder and Director of the Institute for Strategic and International Studies (IEEI) in Lisbon from 1981 to 2007, special adviser to Portuguese Defence Minister Fernando Nogueira from 1993 to 1995, special adviser to Portuguese Minister for Internal Administration António Figueiredo Lopes from 2002 to 2004 and Director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) from 2007 to 2012, carried out by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) on 17 December 2013 at the home of Álvaro de Vasconcelos in Paris. The interview was conducted by Verónica Martins, a Researcher at the CVCE, and particularly focuses on the following subjects: Portugal in the European Union (EU) and Western European Union (WEU), the workings of WEU, the gradual transfer of WEU’s powers to the EU and its contribution to European defence, WEU’s contribution to EU foreign policy, EU foreign policy in the Euro-Mediterranean region and Latin America, and the importance of France and the UK in the EU’s European security and defence policy.

This video, dated 28 November 2013, explains what Members of the European Parliament do and how they are elected, and describes the electoral systems in the European Union Member States.

This film, dated 17 December 2013, explains the operation and role of political groups within the European Parliament.

This video, dated 28 November 2012, explains the workings of the European Parliament, which meets at plenary sessions in the ‘hemicycles’, or semi-circular parliamentary chambers, in Strasbourg and Brussels.

In this interview excerpt, Joseph Weyland, Permanent Representative to the European Communities from 1984 to 1991 and Chairman of the Group of Personal Representatives of the Foreign Ministers of the European Communities from 1 January to 30 June 1991, shares his memories of the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Maastricht under the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union from January to June 1991. He describes the work and the working method of the Group of Personal Representatives, emphasising the assistance of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities and particularly its Legal Service. Finally, he discusses the European Commission’s proposals and the differences of opinion between the Commission and the Luxembourg Presidency.

This film, dated 27 February 2013, describes the role and powers of the President of the European Parliament.

This video, dated 29 March 2012, explains the right of all citizens, either individually or jointly with others, to bring a petition before the European Parliament in accordance with Article 227 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

René Leboutte from the University of Luxembourg and Lars Wieneke, Head of the CVCE’s Information and Technology Department, give their conclusions at the end of the first day of the DHLU 2013 Symposium.

In this interview excerpt, Joseph Weyland, Permanent Representative to the European Communities from 1984 to 1991 and Ambassador to London from 1993 to 2002, discusses his participation, from June to December 1995, in the reflection group set up at the Corfu European Council on 24 and 25 June 1994 to prepare for the work of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) for the revision of the Treaty on European Union. The group was chaired by Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza, Spanish State Secretary for European Affairs from 1991 to 1995 and Foreign Minister from 1995 to 1996.