Cohesion in Europe
Europe's cohesion is rightly regarded as an absolute precondition for the prosperity, security and sustainability of our continent. In this context, the social sciences and humanities provide a major contribution.
Europe's cohesion is rightly regarded as an absolute precondition for the prosperity, security and sustainability of our continent. In this context, the social sciences and humanities provide a major contribution.
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The financial and economic crisis, flight and migration dynamics, increasing populism, Brexit and other geopolitical challenges show how fragile cohesion in Europe is - especially when it comes to jointly bearing risks and burdens.
All of this raises major questions: from cooperation in the areas of economic, trade and industrial policy, cohesion and solidarity, democracy and political legitimisation, to systemic, social and cultural integration processes within the European Union. Against this backdrop, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funded projects that analysed cohesion in the European Union (EU) - understood as a resilient and reliable relationship of interaction between its member states and their citizens - from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Under the motto "Cohesion in Europe - Challenges and Opportunities in Turbulent Times", the final conference of the funding line took place on 28 September 2023 at the Humboldtcarré in Berlin. The projects discussed their results with representatives from politics, civil society and academia. The conference was opened by the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Dr Jens Brandenburg. In his welcoming address, he emphasised that cohesion in Europe is indispensable for the future of the continent. In the subsequent panel discussion, the projects entered into a direct dialogue with politicians and civil society. In the discussions with Josip Juratovic (Deputy Chairman of the European Union Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag) and Tomáš Sacher (Managing Director of the Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe), it became clear that, especially in times of multiple crises, cohesion in Europe is an essential prerequisite for the prosperity, security and future viability of our continent. The sponsored projects clearly highlighted current problems and the need for action and provided solutions that will benefit politics and society.
The results of the "Cohesion in Europe" funding line are also incorporated into the dialogue of the Conference of European Affairs Ministers (EMK). The EMK is the permanent conference of the federal state ministers responsible for European policy and coordinates cooperation between the federal states in representing their interests in European affairs. The results of selected projects in the funding line were presented at the meetings of the EMK's Standing Working Group (StAG) and the Sub-Working Group on European Policy Communication (UAG): KommZuEU, PerzepEU, CoBo, Jurop and ProConEU. This ensures a broad transfer of the project results to politics and the public.
The 19 individual and joint projects were organised in three clusters:
The research projects have provided impetus for social discourse and are of practical relevance, as they have addressed current problems and needs for action and developed solutions for policy. The involvement of practitioners was particularly desirable.