On 15-21 August 2019, the Chairholder of the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair, Professor Tobias SCHUMACHER, spoke on EU foreign policy towards the EU’s Eastern and Southern neighbourhoods between ambition and pragmatism in the framework of a same-titled seminar (link) that was held during the seminar week of the European Forum Alpbach 2019.
As part of this seminar, Professor SCHUMACHER discussed with Maja KOCIJANČIČ, Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Ambassador Pierre VIMONT, former Secretary General of the European External Action Service, and Ambassador Thomas MAYR-HARTING, former Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia, on past, current and future issues related to the EU’s role in its neighbourhoods.
On 23 August 2019, Professor SCHUMACHER was interviewed by the influential German weekly Die Zeit on the EU’s policy toward Libya and current dynamics in the country. Parts of this interview fed into the two following articles (in German), published by Die Zeit (link) and Hilfe naht (19 September 2019).
On 21 October 2019, Professor SCHUMACHER participated in a panel discussion at the Vienna-based Austrian Institute for International Affairs (ÖIIP), discussing with Dr Nathalie TOCCI, Director of the Rome-based Italian Institute for International Affairs (IAI) and former Special Advisor to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on "Europe’s exit from its Neighbourhood?" (link). Afterwards, on 25 October 2019, he featured in the Europa-Journal, a weekly radio programme transmitted by the Austrian public broadcaster ÖR1, offering his views on the European Council’s recent refusal to open EU accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. The interview (in German) can be listened to here.
In September 2019, Professor SCHUMACHER was appointed member of the corresponding board of the European Forum Alpbach (EFA) for a period of three years. The EFA is an interdisciplinary platform for science, politics, business and culture. Established in 1945, the annual EFA its events throughout the year address the relevant socio-political questions of our time.
Furthermore, Professor SCHUMACHER published an article, entitled "Die Europäische Union, die Östliche Partnerschaft und "Assoziierung Plus": zur Debatte über die Einbindung assoziierter Nachbarn unterhalb einer EU-Mitgliedchaft" in the German academic quarterly Integration (Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 205-217). Together with Dr Emile BADARIN, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair, Professor SCHUMACHER also published a chapter on "The EU, Resilience and the Southern Neighbourhood After the Arab Uprisings" in a volume edited by Eugenio CUSUMANO and Stefan HOFMAIER, entitled Projecting Resilience Across the Mediterranean (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2020, pp. 63-86) (link).