Panel discussion | Surrounded by borders, Europe without borders

Time: 24.08.2022 at 13:00 – 13:45
Place: Radisson Blu Marina Palace hotel & online

Please note that this event will be in Finnish, but simultaneous Finnish-English-Finnish interpretation is available (on-site and online). 

The crises of the last seven years – the refugee crisis, Brexit, the corona pandemic and, most recently, the war in Ukraine – have profoundly challenged one of the cornerstones of European cooperation, the openness of borders. New fences have been built at the borders, vaccination certificates have been needed to cross them, and their status has had to be considered as the state status changes. Those in need have gotten over them, sometimes on hard terms, but also warmly welcomed.  A great deal of political guidance and coordination has been needed for all these difficult activities, at different levels of European policy.

The panel discussion addresses issues such as: the release and closure of borders during Covid-19 disease; respect for human rights with regard to the various types of refugees; the effect of fear on closing borders. Ultimately, the question is how the idealistic idea of European spatial transparency can work in this time and age.

The event is moderated by Henri Vogt (University of Turku) and the discussants are Saila Heinikoski (Finnish Institute of International Affairs) Teemu Rantanen (University of Turku),  Hanna Tuominen (University of Helsinki), and Markku Suksi (Åbo Akademi University).

The event is part of the Turku Europe Forum and organized in collaboration with the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University.

The live webcasts of the Europe Forum are free for everyone to watch in real time via the virtual event page.  All events of the forum are recorded and can be viewed later on YouTube.

Recording of the panel discussion (English interpretation)

Photo: Markus Spiske/unsplash
Video: Europe Forum