EURINT 2013: European Union in times of crisis. Perspectives and solutions 15 - 17 May 2013  Centre for European Studies - “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, Romania The European Union as a model of soft power has a powerful attraction in the world and even a much more influential one in its near abroad. The EU has an interest in promoting its model as a contribution to good governance, democracy, economic prosperity and security, which are essential pre- requisites to an effective regional cooperation framework. It also has a major interest in continuing to preach the merits of sharing sovereignty as a necessary condition to tackling many of today's global problems such as sustainable development, poverty, the environment, transnational crime, and more recently, the economic crisis. Since its inception, the EU has also become the largest trading block and aid provider in the world which gives even more weight to its international role. The international conference The EU as a model of soft power in the Eastern neighbourhood, within the project The EU as regional player. Cooperation and integration in Eastern neighbourhood (EURINT), is generously supported by the European Union under the Jean Monnet Life Long Learning Programme - Key Activity 1. It is an international academic event which addresses to you, those who show a genuine interest in enhancing their research skills in European studies and in contributing to developing a transnational network of contacts and cooperation. The three-day period (May 15-17, 2013) aims to transmit knowledge about the EU international role, particularly in its Eastern neighbourhood, to draw together scholars, popular experts, civil society activists and encourage an exchange of views. Academic sessions A. The EU as regional and global player. Cooperation or geopolitical competition? | The EU is an important regional actor exercising both structural and normative power in relation to the outside world. This section focuses on the challenges to the EU's soft power raised by the other competing geopolitical actors such as the Russian Federation, USA and, increasingly, China which all exhibit certain degree of influence in the EU's neighbourhood. B. The EU "transformative power" in the neighbourhood | Recent contributions to the European integration literature have pointed out that the transfer/absorption of European values, norms and principles (i.e. Europeanization process) could be influential even beyond the EU's geographic boundaries, particularly with regards to candidate countries and neighbouring states. This section points out that the diffusion of European ideas can be important means of exporting abroad the EU soft power model. C. The Eastern Partnership (EaP) looking forward: achievements and future | Security and integration have constituted two paramount and deeply intertwined priorities in the EU neighbourhood. In terms of foreign policy, the ENP and the EaP are both security oriented aiming also at enhancing the political association and fostering democratic principles and the creation of a free trade area and economic integration with the EU. D. The consequences of the economic crisis on EU's competitiveness | Europe has a major role in the world economy and its economic incentives have been the most effective instruments for generating structural change even in the neighbourhood. E. Regional development and European governance: achievements, obstacles and incentives | Deep economic engagement, multilateral frameworks of trade relations, foreign direct investments have been EU's main tools when acting internationally. However, the current economic downturn has many times hindered or postponed EU's economic profile on the global scene. INVITED EXPERTS o Mitchell BELFER, Head of Department International Relations & European Studies Metropolitan University Prague, Czech Republic; o Erhard BUSEK, Professor, University of Vienna, Coordinator of the South- Eastern Cooperative Initiative (SECI) and Chairman of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe; o Laure DELCOUR, Senior Research Fellow (Research Director), Institute of International and Strategic Relations, Paris; Directorate of European Affairs, French National School of Administration; o Adelaide DUARTE, Professor, University of Coimbra, Portugal; o Adam EBERHARDT, Deputy Director of the Centre for Eastern Studies, Warsaw, Poland; o Gabor HUNYA, Senior Economist, Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, Austria; o Masoud IMANI KALESAR, PhD, Visiting Fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies, Paris, France and journalist at Euronews; o Kaloyan KOLEV, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Economics, Varna, Bulgaria; o Elena KOROSTELEVA, Professor of International Politics, Director of Graduate Studies, School of Politics and IR, Rutherford College, University of Kent, United Kingdom; o Hrant KOSTANYAN, Associate research fellow at  the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels, Belgium; o Inna MELNYKOVSKA, Research Fellow at the Institute of Political Science (International Integration), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany; o Tiiu PAAS, Professor, University of Tartu, Estonia; o Giles POLGLASE, Professor, University of Kent, United Kingdom. EURINT 2013 programme Photo gallery Eurint publications EURINT proceedings (2013 edition)