FRONTIERS

FOR AN OPEN EUROPE

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
- Brussels, Egmont Palace -

December 4-5th 2003.







  • A conference on European identity will be organized on December 5th, 2003 in the framework of the European academic project EUXIN (European Union Cross Identity Network). The conference will also address the case of Armenia and of Armenians.

  • What are Europe's borders? How do we define the space of European culture? Is there a correspondence between the countries of the European Union and countries of European culture? These are some of the questions which the next conference of the EUXIN project will seek to contribute answers to, on December 5th next.

  • The EUXIN project (or European Union Cross Identity Network) assembles a number of European universities (Bologna, Heidelberg, Louvain-la-Neuve, Montpellier and Salamanca) in a search for European identity. Under the authority of professor Bernard Coulie (FLTR/GLOR/ORI), the EUXIN project seeks to draw lessons from academic experience and knowledge, with a view to better understanding those elements which are fundamental to European culture: where it originates from, how it evolved over time, how it was enriched, how it adapted to modernity, and what are the common cultural characteristics in Europe.

  • The conference will address the European origins of the idea of borders, and will contrast them with other conceptions on the subject, e.g. African. It will raise the question of legal borders, of the role played by borders during international conflicts, but also of a type of borders which are both less political yet just as difficult to cross, such as those which separate cultures. The eastern limits of the continent will be discussed, as will be the existence of regions which are culturally European, yet external to the frontiers of the Union: the case of Armenia will be presented in this instance.

  • The conference will be held Friday December 5 (9.30-17.30), at the Palais d'Egmont, Brussels. Access is free of charge, but please notify Pr Coulie if you intend to attend the event: coulie@ori.ucl.ac.be
    .
  • Additional information on the EUXIN project and on this conference are available from: euxin@fltr.ucl.ac.be or coulie@ori.ucl.ac.be

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
The official conference programme below is provided in French.
However, simultaneous translation between English and French will be provided during the conference.

  • Thursday December 4th 2003
    - 18:30 : Elie BARNAVI, ancien ambassadeur d'Israël en France, Professeur titulaire d'Histoire à l'Université de Tel Aviv, ancien directeur du Comité scientifique du Musée de l'Europe à Bruxelles : Culture européenne et frontières de l'Europe: quelle place pour le Proche-Orient ?
    - Cocktail de bienvenue
  • Friday December 5th 2003 (9:30-17:30)

    - 9:00 : Accueil des participants
    - 9:30 : Ouverture du colloque par Monsieur Louis Michel, Ministre des Affaires étrangères
    - 9:45 : Paul-Augustin DEPROOST (UCL) : Introduction. Les frontières, à l'horizon de la cité.
    - 10:00 : Michael SINGLETON (UCL) : Frontières nomades : où le flux reste flou.
    - 10:30 : Paul-Augustin DEPROOST (UCL) : " Hic non finit Roma ". Les paradoxes de la frontière romaine : un modèle de l'Europe ?
    - 11:00 : Café
    - 11:30 : Jean-Yves CARLIER (UCL) : Les frontières juridiques en Europe : lieu de rencontre ou de séparation ?
    - 12:00 : Monique MUND-DOPCHIE (UCL) : La frontière entre le civilisé et le sauvage dans l'imaginaire de l'Occident latin : usages et mésusages des critères antiques.

    - 12:30 : Pause

    - 14:30 : Laurence VAN YPERSELE (UCL) : 14-18, le réveil d'une conscience nationale belge. De la violation de la frontière au rêve annexionniste.
    - 15:00 : Heinz LÖWE (Heidelberg) : Whose East, whose West? Europe´s eastern borderlands."

    - 15h30 Theo VAN LINT (Oxford) : Europe beyond Europe? The case of Armenia and the Armenians
    - 16h00 - 16h30 : Débat de conclusion en présence d'Elie Barnavi et animé par Bernard COULIE : L'Europe, à l'horizon de ses frontières?
à compléter