On 4 November 2022, the Ferme de Dorigny on the Lausanne university campus hosted an international colloquium on the theme “How to talk about Europe”. It took place on the Foundation’s premises and was attended by around 120 people in a packed room. In addition, the conference was also broadcast remotely on the internet and its video can be found on YouTube at the address below. Thus, 577 people have already been able to view the conference remotely, live or recorded (as of 6 February 2023).
Organised by the Foundation, the Swiss Foreign Policy Association (APG/ASPE), CEDIDAC (University of Lausanne) and the Franco-German University (UFA), the event brought together numerous Swiss and European guests as well as speakers from four countries, namely Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland.
In their introductory remarks, former Secretary of State Jacques de Watteville (Vice-President of the Foundation), Rudolf Wyder (Vice-President of APG/ASPE), who replaced the ailing National Councillor Roland Fischer at short notice, Philippe Gréciano (Professor at the University of Grenoble Alpes and President of the UFA), and Damiano Canapa (Professor at the University of Lausanne and Director of CEDIDAC) emphasised the importance of this conference, to which they gave their institutional support.
The final word went to the former President of the National Council and member of the Executive Council of the Foundation, Dominique de Buman, who in his remarkable speech did not fail to mention the need to strengthen the teaching of Europe in Switzerland and elsewhere. He therefore summed up perfectly the spirit in which this day of exchange and dialogue took place.
The organisers sought to strike the right balance between interventions by experienced specialists, institutional players and young academics, authors of works on European subjects, particularly Franco-German, or of dissertations more specifically devoted to the relationship between Switzerland and the European Union.
The day also gave four speakers the opportunity to speak at length on the current and future challenges facing Europe. Richard Werly, journalist with the French-language edition of Blick, Fabien Fivaz, National Councillor from Neuchâtel and member of the Green Party, Sandro Gozi (in a recorded message), MEP and former Italian Secretary of State for European Affairs, and Professor Emeritus of European Studies Gilbert Casasus each contributed to answering the question of “How to talk about Europe”, based on their own experience and perspective.
For Richard Werly, the message must also be disseminated as a matter of priority to all his readers, especially to the most sceptical among them and those who are by nature insufficiently informed about European issues. Fabien Fivaz insisted on all the unknown European implications and aspects that he was able to discover in his capacity as a Swiss elected representative. Sandro Gozi, who has been involved in European affairs for many years, denounced the anti-democratic dangers of the anti-European discourse and pleaded for several reforms, including the introduction of transnational lists for the next European elections in 2024. Gilbert Casasus, for whom this colloquium was a sort of “unofficial farewell lesson”, ended his speech with the words that “he would continue to talk about Europe in Switzerland, as one can do everywhere else”.
The event was hailed by the public, its speakers and participants as a great success. The event was not only a success, but also proved that European politics has a place in Switzerland, in the university, in perfect symbiosis with people from here and elsewhere.
SEE THE FULL PROGRAMME in french (with sequence timing)
Watch the film of the event at the following link :
