With the future of EU institutional reform cast into doubt by the Irish referendum’s no vote, Friends of Europe’s President’s Dinner will this year debate the question “Should we now tear up the Lisbon treaty?”.
The options available to European governments will be set out by both advocates and opponents of the treaty, in discussions to be held in the prestigious Palais d’Egmont.

Participants at the third Development Policy Forum (DPF) roundtable tackled the question of whether international aid architecture actually gets in the way of aid effectiveness.
Today’s growing plethora of aid actors have a wide range of instruments at their disposal, but their much-welcomed additional resources are making the coordination of aid efforts more difficult.

Despite rumblings from the incoming EU French Presidency that in the wake of the Irish vote “difficulty will begin when the 28th member state knocks at the door”, representatives at this summit remained positive about the region’s eventual EU integration.
An upbeat EU Enlargement Commissioner assured the Western Balkans that the enlargement process remains “on track”.

Europe has taken the lead in driving forward the environmental agenda, with policies such as its Emissions Trading Scheme and its "20-2020" targets. While this is clearly good for the environment, is it good for the EU's economy? To what extent can the EU make real progress on cutting emissions if it is not part of a global effort to tackle the problem? Is sustainable development really possible at all?

Competition for the Arctic is intensifying as worries about the melting ice cap are deepening. Soaring energy prices are making Arctic exploration and production of oil and gas feasible. Is the Arctic likely to present a new test of the EU’s capacity to speak with one voice on energy?
This Café Crossfire debate will feature Helge Lund, CEO of StatoilHydro, and Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Energy.

Co-chaired by Friends of Europe's President Etienne Davignon together with European Commissioners Janez Potočnik and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the fifth annual VIP policy summit “State of Europe” provides a unique opportunity to debate the challenges ahead for Europe in an open and frank manner, in the company of a very select group of senior participants.