November 7, 2023
EURISGA Jean Monnet Lectures
Inaugural Jean Monnet Lecture 2023
How to negotiate successfully in the EU? Lessons learned as a former Foreign Minister and from the Dutch EU Policies of the last Decade
Bert Koenders, former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs
In this inaugural lecture, Bert Koenders, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Special Envoy on Fragility and Kooijmans Chair for Peace, Security and Law at Leiden University, provided a ‘behind the scene’ analysis of the dynamics, challenges and opportunities for negotiating ‘policies for change’ at the highest European level. Drawing on his own experience as foreign minister during the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Mr Koenders outlined the national, European and individual skills and capacities required for successfully building consensus and effective EU foreign policy responses. Mr Koenders applied some of the past lessons to the ‘infinitely more complex challenges of overlapping polycrises’, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to energy security, climate change and addressing fragility in the EU’s vicinity. He also provided practical insights for students studying the EU (in the context of the Jean Monnet Chair’s Honours Class of studying the EU in practice) and scholars.
About the speaker
Mr. Koenders joined the World Bank Group in 2019 as the Special Envoy on Fragility. Currently, he focuses on supporting the World Bank in strengthening its engagement in Fragile States mainly in the Middle East and Africa regions. Mr. Koenders holds the Kooijmans Chair at the University of Leiden. During the first half of 2016 when the Netherlands held the Presidency of the Council of the EU, Mr. Koenders served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs until 2017 before which he was the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and headed the UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast as the UNSG Special Representative. Mr. Koenders has previously held numerous positions, including being the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation from 2007 to 2010 (5 billion euros budget), Deputy Chairman of the Netherlands Atlantic Association, Member of the Supervisory Council of the Institute for Multiparty Democracy, President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Member of the French-Dutch Cooperation Council, Founder of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF and served on the Board of the International Crisis Group and was Commissioner of the International Commission of Missing Persons. Mr. Koenders studied Political and Social Sciences, International Economics and African Studies at the Free University of Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam and the Johns Hopkins University SAIS in Washington, DC.
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