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Previous AmigosPlease see detailed below details of previous Amigo Society debates and transcriptions of those meetings. Search for: in: The EU constitution: its role and its roots
Date: 06 November 2007
Location: Hotel Amigo Rue de l’Amigo 1-3, Brussels Speakers: Dr. Carl-Johan Westholm, Elmar Brok MEP The present EU leadership seems intent on introducing fundamental rules by stealth: following rejection by referenda in two countries in 2005, the Dutch and Danish parliaments may shortly submit the “Reform Treaty” to their voters. The European constitutional debate over the last years has focused on extending supranational powers. In the face of terrorist threats and heightened security, are the citizens of an extended Europe concerned with safeguarding their rights of freedom to circulate, to associate and to trade? What will Europe become – a trading block, or something ultimately more far-reaching? What is the proper role of the EU in this context? How can citizens bring their liberties to bear on the “constitutional” initiatives which seem more concerned with the expediency of EU decision-making than with the limits of government?  No Safe Place: Private Security and the struggle between old and new Europe
Date: 09 October 2007
Location: Hotel Amigo Rue de l’Amigo 1-3, Brussels Speakers: Tim Evans (Chair), Director of Development at the Stockholm Network and Prof. Dr. Marc Cools, Ghent University Private security and policing has become a hot topic in Europe. The debate has come to represent the divide between a traditional approach to policing and security and a newer, dynamic way of thinking. On the one hand, local, state-oriented models (the old Europe) argue for public-private partnerships and integrated security concern. On the other, liberal thinkers and politicians are focused on economically driven models and self-ownership. We aim to look at the arguments on each side and weigh their merits on grounds of effectiveness, efficiency and equity. Our debate will focus on the academic arguments, legal frameworks and policy issues surrounding the field of private security and policing, with particular emphasis on European Union initiatives. Amigo Society: The Future of Healthcare
Date: 18 September 2007
Location: Hotel Amigo, Rue de l’Amigo 1-3, Brussels Speakers: Helen Disney (chair), Riel Miller, Johan Hjertqvist What do obesity and terrorism have in common? What do doctors and mechanics have in common? What chance is there that improving the management of the healthcare system will reduce current problems? Is real-time, place specific, genetically matched epidemiology feasible? What would it achieve?
All of these questions are impossible to answer, since the future does not exist and there are no grounds for predicting it. What can be addressed is the way we see the present and the way we build up the assumptions that shape our choices. The aim of this talk is to examine how the way we think about the future influences the choices we make by imagining other ways of describing the potential of the present. The elements of a few scenarios will be sketched and used to examine current anticipatory assumptions. European Resource Bank Meeting: Drinks reception
Date: 15 September 2007
Location: University of Bucharest Speakers: Jose Pinera In celebration of our ten year anniversary we hosted a drinks reception in the Festivities Hall of the Faculty of Law at the University of Bucharest. Our guest speaker was Jose Pinera.
Stockholm Network/American Spectator dinner
Date: 11 July 2007
Location: Reform Club, Pall Mall, London Speakers: R Emmett Tyrrell, editor, American Spectator and Rick Nye, Populus The Stockholm Network co-hosted a dinner with American Spectator. Rick Nye gave a presentation on the state of UK politics, which was followed by a discussion of recent developments in Britain and the USA.
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