50 Years of TEPSA and the European Council
While national differences must be acknowledged in our pursuit of the European project, common challenges faced by the European Union must be addressed jointly: through our shared identity, interests and values we can work together to tackle Europe’s immediate and future priorities.
In 1974, both the European Council (EUCO) and the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) came into being. The former created itself on the impetus of the Heads of State or Government, and has ever since played a crucial role in the story of European integration. The latter was the result of leading European experts from Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom coming together to form an association capable of exchanging knowledge and collaborating on EU affairs research. Fifty years later, the first research network on European affairs – TEPSA – has 49 Member Institutes in 37 European countries.
Public Conference
"Forging the Future of Europe"
On the occasion of TEPSA’s and the EUCO’s 50th anniversaries, we hosted a public conference “Forging the Future of Europe” on 28 May. With this conference, TEPSA highlighted exemplary efforts in the promotion of trans-European knowledge exchanges and cooperation in an engaging and lively discussion.
The full conference was recorded so take a look at the full panel recordings and some of the amazing photography of the event by clicking below.
Interviews of Former European Council Members
TEPSA’s pan-European network of 49 Member Institutes in 37 European countries is, over the course of 2024, soliciting longform interviews with former members of the European Council to hear their stories of key summits, the role of the institution, and the development of the European project over the last 50 years. TEPSA will contribute to this group of interviews via our EuropeChats series, and Member Institutes from across the EU will be conducting their own interviews. Check out the playlist below!
Learn more about the EUCO
The European Council gathers together the Heads of State or Government from the European Union’s Member States. It has over the years become the EU’s agenda setter, shaping key milestones in European integration, but despite this, its history as a formal Institution of the EU doesn’t go back too far.
To take a look back over decades of European integration, tracking the development of the summits that would later become the formal European Council, take a look at this episode of EU History Explained with Giulia Bonacquisti. Our journey will start in the 1960s as informal summit meetings spearheaded by France and culminate in the signing of the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, which formalised the European Council as an EU Institution and defined its current role.
To look at the ways in which national politicians, in addition to their role in the legislative process via the Council, can help steer the overall direction of the European Union, you can also watch this episode of EU Democracy Explained with Hugh Evans, part of an ongoing series on democracy in the European institutions.