On 1–2 October 2026, the Jean Monnet Network PROSPER hosted the conference Europe Under Pressure: Security, Governance and Geopolitics in a Time of Global Turmoil at Jagiellonian University, Krakow.
Europe is facing a series of interconnected challenges, ranging from major power rivalries and regional wars to economic shocks, disinformation, pressures on democratic institutions and the growing influence of illiberalism. This conference brought together scholars and practitioners from within and beyond the PROSPER network to examine the interaction between security, governance and geopolitics across the European Union and its neighbourhood.
The conference explored the EU’s capacity to respond to these challenges, with sessions addressing EU financial capacity and strategic autonomy, support for Ukraine, enlargement and cohesion, European integration, democracy and governance, and the changing geopolitical environment.
The event was organised by Dr Natasza Styczyńska, Assistant Professor at the Institute of European Studies at Jagiellonian University and Team Leader of the Jean Monnet Network PROSPER. It featured contributions from researchers across the PROSPER network and partner institutions.
Programme
Thursday, 1 October
15:30 – Welcome Remarks
- Krzysztof Koźbiał, Vice-Dean for Human Resources and Development, Faculty
of International and Political Studies, Jagiellonian University - Kinga Gajda, Director of the Institute of European Studies, Jagiellonian University
- Ian Cooper, Dublin City University, PROSPER Research Coordinator
15:45–17:00 – Keynote
Kinga Redłowska, Head of Centre for Finance and Security Europe, RUSI Europe
The New Financial Order: Alternative Systems, Geopolitical Rivalry and Europe’s Security
Chair: Natasza Styczyńska, Jagiellonian University
17:15–18:30 – Panel: Europe Under Pressure: EU Constitutional Responses and Financial Capacity
Chair & Discussant: Ian Cooper, Dublin City University
- Federico Fabbrini, Dublin City University — The EU Constitution in Time of War: Legal Responses to Russia’s Aggression Against Ukraine
- Ana Belén Macho Pérez, Pompeu Fabra University — Financing the European Union in a Changing Geopolitical Landscape: Financial Autonomy and Budgetary Flexibility in EU Public Finance Law
- Julien Debande, Université Libre de Bruxelles — Legitimacy Challenges in the Evolving EU Financial Toolkit for Ukraine
Friday, 2 October | Room 010
09:00–10:30 – Panel 1 | Building Capacity for a Stronger Union: The EU’s Financial Capacity, Strategic Autonomy and Solidarity in Times of War
Chair & Discussant: Paulina Lenik, Jagiellonian University
- Aikaterini Angelaki, Université Paris-Est Créteil — Enhanced Cooperation in Times of War: The Ukraine Support Loan and the Limits of EU Financial Solidarity
- Joan Castelló Segura, Pompeu Fabra University — Enhancing the Financial Autonomy of the European Union through Fiscal Revenue
- Volodymyr Posviatenko, Jagiellonian University — EU Enlargement and Open Strategic Autonomy: Discursive Linkages in European Parliament Debates
10:30–10:45 – Coffee Break
10:45–12:15 – Panel 2 | Cohesion, Enlargement and the Geopolitics of European Integration
Chair & Discussant: Laure Clement-Wilz, Université Paris-Est Créteil
- Paulina Lenik, Jagiellonian University — Grants Without Gratitude? EU Rural Development Funding and Institutional Trust in Poland
- Stefania Baroncelli, Free University of Bolzano — EU Cohesion Funding and Euroscepticism: The 2028–2034 Reform Battle
- Ian Cooper, Dublin City University & Lien Jansen, KU Leuven — EU Enlargement under Geopolitical Time Pressure: Insights from the European Parliament’s Western Balkans Delegations
12:15–13:15 – Lunch
13:15–14:45 – Panel 3 | Democracy and Governance in a Turbulent Europe
Chair & Discussant: Natasza Styczyńska, Jagiellonian University
- Joanna Dyduch, Jagiellonian University — Why Democracy Needs Academic Freedom: Politicisation, Polarisation, and Radicalisation in the Contemporary University
- Triantafyllia Lina Papadopoulou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki — Combating Fake News as a Defence of Democracy
- Elodie Thevenin, Dr Katarzyna Zielińska & Dr Magdalena Góra, Jagiellonian University — The Young Citizens’ Assembly on Pollinators: Reconnecting Strategy through the Institutionalisation of Citizens’ Deliberation in the European Union
- Johannes Gerken, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg — EU Public Administrative Capacity Policy: Steering in an Area of Limited Hierarchy
14:45 – Conclusion
