The Future of the EU and the UK’s Role in it

Thank you very much for attending today and welcoming me. What I hope to speak about is “The Future of the EU and the UK’s Role in it”. Before I start my presentation today, I would like to mention that I have been involved in research in the field of EU external relations and this has always been related to my personal view that although I am from UK I very much believe in the European integration which puts me in a minority. But I always believe that Europe should not always be inward looking but outward. And, this is where my interest lies, how Europe engages with the rest of the world. I have studied in different countries like UK, France and Japan because I wanted to get very different perspectives on EU law and integration; I wanted to see how Europe is perceived and seen to work outside Europe. Then, I spent some time in the European Commission Delegation in Tokyo and it was extremely interesting for a number of reasons; it was fascinating to see how the Japanese Government and the civil servants reacted to the changes happening in Europe which at that time was the advent of the single currency in Europe. My particular interest has always been in European relations with Asian countries, so I am delighted to be at AEI today. Many Thanks.
What I would like to talk today is the future of the EU and delivering some thought provoking questions. Talking about the future of the EU is very difficult thing to predict because one has to be not only too optimistic or too pessimistic but also to deal with what is the present of the EU before looking into its future. So let’s have a look what are EU’s achievements until today.