RELAY Events

The broad aim of this conference is to take stock of the state of affairs of EU democracy in times of crisis. Concretely this implies that we will explore two ‘main channels’ of EU democracy: parliamentary democracy (with both national parliaments and the EP being in the spotlight) and civil society/citizen involvement. This event is part of the RELAY project. 

The RELAY project aims at spreading and discussing EU affairs to a diverse array of stakeholders. In particular, it seeks to shed light on how the European Commission's political guidelines relate to and resonate with different communities including academics, think tanks, policy-makers, civil society, etc.. To do this, we are organising a series of thematic workshops to collect stakeholder input. 

Studio Europa Maastricht presents ‘The Missing Puzzle Piece: reconciling labour migration and the European social model’ as a part of the Jean Monnet RELAY project. This event aims to explore how we can utilise the values from Europe’s unique social model and strengthen the European Pillar of Social Rights to improve the inclusion of labour migrants in our societies, stop labour exploitation of migrant workers and ultimately provide better labour market outcomes and improve social cohesion for everyone.

Data-driven technologies are changing nearly every aspect of our lives, from how we work, learn, eat, sleep, vote, listen to music, watch films and TV, choose partners, communicate with friends and family, get the news. It’s hard to think of a single facet of contemporary life that is not being changed by big data analytics, machine-learning, algorithmic decision-making, and support systems. The question of whether Europe is fit for a digital age is not just a question concerning Europe’s technological readiness level, but also her societal readiness level. 

This virtual workshop organised by the Brightlands Institute for Smart Society explored two topics of fundamental importance for Europe's digital age: democratising and governing an increasingly digital Europe, and the future of work. 

This was the second thematic conference within RELAY project, which followed the RELAY Workshop on 'The Green Deal: What are its Implications for Animals and Nature?' held on 25 January 2021. 

The topic of the conference was 'An Economy that Works for the People: beyond Brexit and Covid-19' and it was hosted by the DCU Brexit Institute.

The event featured as a keynote speaker Mr. Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner in charge of Economic Affairs, and took stock of the major development which Next Generation EU, the post-pandemic recovery fund, represents for the future of the European Union.

The focus of the workshop was on how the ‘The Green Deal’ is tackling the issues of global warming and climate change and gives a ‘voice’ to the voiceless. It examined the policies behind the Green Deal in relation to the role of Nature and Animals in our Society and discussed the Green Deal’s shortcomings with regard to the ‘voiceless’ members of the European society and of the regions beyond the EU that might be affected by Green Deal-related policies. The central question of the webinar was: ‘What are the current issues with regard to the ‘true’ sustainability goals the Green Deal should pursue and what actions are required to give animals and nature a more prominent role in the Green Deal debates?’

This conference kicked-off the events series within the RELAY project. It brought together academics and a wide array of stakeholders in an extensive range of domains, allowing for differentiated perspectives on all of the European Commission’s political priorities, from digitalization, through the European Green Deal, to the EU as a global player.