Back to Borders? Panel Debate at the EGP Council in Utrecht

What do borders mean in today’s Europe? Be it the harrowing images of refugees risking their lives to scale barbed wire fences, or the policing of public spaces in the name of security measures, these dividing lines have a very real impact on the lives of human beings.

Whereas once walls and barriers appeared to be crumbling on the continent, it seems today that the space around us is increasingly being carved up, sometimes very starkly with the return of border controls, other times almost imperceptibly with the creeping entrenchment of cleavages in identity. What does this trend tell us about the Europe we inhabit today? Are new battle lines being drawn?

A panel debate in connection to the latest edition of the Green European Journal, ‘Checkpoint Europe: The Return of Borders’

Speakers:

• Tineke Strik (Green Dutch MP, Professor at Centre for Migration law of the Radboud University, and Member of the Council of Europe)
• Krzysztof Czyzewski (writer, philosopher and theatre director, co-founder and president of the Borderland Foundation in Poland)
• François Gemenne (political scientist, specialised in migration and environmental affairs. He lectures on these issues in various universities, including Sciences Po Paris and the University of Liège)

Moderator: Erica Meijers (Editor in chief the Dutch cultural and political magazine De Helling).

Date: Saturday, 21 May

Time: 12:15- 13:45

Venue:

Cursus- en Vergadercentrum Domstad

Koningsbergerstraat 9

3531 AJ Utrecht

The Netherlands