On Wednesday, 27 November, the Carlemany Institute of European Studies (ICEE) at UIC Barcelona organised a round table to analyse the Letta and Draghi reports and the future of Europe after the US elections. Chaired by the Institute's director, Montserrat Nebrera, the event was attended by two leading experts: Josep Lluís Oller, economist, and Joaquim Coello, naval engineer.

This is the first event of the year for the ICEE, which is being reborn with the aim of “bringing research and dissemination to bear on the growing role of Europe in terms of its citizens”, explains Nebrera, professor of Constitutional Law. “This event is important because it calls for a Europe of the people, one that recovers its founding values, while at the same time providing reflection and judgement on its future challenges, which are already present,” the lawyer adds.

Commissioned by the President of the European Commission, the Letta and Draghi reports analyse the current situation in the European Union and propose key measures to boost the European economy, highlighting the urgency of strengthening the single market. Drawing on these reports, Oller summarised the main problems facing the EU: low birth rate, war-fearing elites and the difficulty of a European capital market. Meanwhile, Coello explained some of the solutions proposed in the documents, which involve investing in three fundamental aspects: the environment - solving the electricity problem - digitalisation and security.

All this has been analysed in the current context following the US presidential elections, which saw Donald Trump's Republican party emerge as the winner. “We will have to pay for our defence at the same time as also paying for healthcare and pensions because we have an increasingly ageing population,” said Oller, who described the situation as “terrible” because we are in an economy that has not been growing for 20 years.

The Carlemany Institute for European Studies at UIC Barcelona has been reactivated this academic year 2024-2025 under the leadership of Montserrat Nebrera, lecturer in the Faculty of Law. Throughout the course, ICEE has planned different events that will focus on various sectoral topics (security and defence, immigration and identity, energy sovereignty). It will also be responsible for publicising imminent agreements with other research centres on similar topics for reflection.

The event, which hosted more than 300 people in the Aula Magna of the University—many of them Law and Business Administration students—was presented by Rafael Oliver, dean of the Faculty of Law, who highlighted the importance of these conferences, as part of the lifelong continuing education promoted by UIC Barcelona.