The Jean Monnet Chair in Promoting Public Awareness on Enlargement Policy, EU Values and the Western Balkans’ Accession focuses on the evolution of EU Enlargement policy and its implications in the construction of EU identity based on its core values (article 2 TEU), as well as on the EU strategy toward the Western Balkans, specifically in the field of Cooperation on Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). In particular, the proposal aims to build a solid knowledge-base on EU enlargement policy, addressed to students, graduates and PhD candidates, but also to all stakeholders (legal operators, judges, lawyers, law enforcement officials, civil servants and civil society, policy makers), who are already or are entering the world of professions in this geographical area, which is essential in the current stage of EU integration process for the construction of a widen community of law based on the respect for democracy and human rights. It also intends to continue, deepen and expand the research activities that have been addressed in the Jean Monnet Module EU-Western Balkans Cooperation on Justice and Home Affairs, selected to co-funding for the period 2019-2022.

According to article 21.1 TEU, in fact, the Union’s action on the international scene is guided by the principles which have inspired its own creation, development and enlargement, and which it seeking to advance in the wider world: democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity, the principles of equality and solidarity, and respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law. The rationale of the proposal is based on the thesis that the EU is also the result of its enlargements process and that the enlargements affected the future of the EU, because they have had a crucial role in shaping the EU’s fundamentals and identity. Thus, a project dedicated at enhancing public awareness of EU enlargement policy promoting EU values within partnerships between universities, public and private authorities and NGOs, also from the Western Balkans, is firmly required.

Therefore, the Jean Monnet Chair in Promoting Public Awareness on Enlargement Policy, EU Values and the Western Balkans’ Accession will be an integral part of the hosting higher education institution, inscribed in the institution’s official academic activities.

It will be organized as follows:

–       a main course concerning Enlargement, Integration and EU Values in the form of lectures, training seminars, workshops, simulations, group’s work, with theoretical/practical and problem-solving approaches. It will be hold by the Chair holder as autonomous course, but associated to the other courses, hold by the same Chair holder (EU law and EU Migration Law), in order to ensure the widest possible participation;

–       a law clinic concerning EU Cooperation on JHA with the Western Balkans. In the form of in-depth and practical exercises, this clinic (both online and in-person) will have a more technical/scientific approach thanks to the participation, next to the Chair holder, of the team Chair, academics, legal professionals, policy makers, representatives of civil society and NGOs, also from the Western Balkans, that will provide their contribution for efficient response to the common threats in a joint and coordinated manner.

–       a cycle of 2 international conferences (both online and in-person) that, under the guidance of the Chair holder and the team Chair, will encourage the active involvement of legal practitioners, policy-makers and experts in the field and will promote the dissemination of the Chair’s activities in Italy and abroad.

In line with the Erasmus+ Programme objectives, this Jean Monnet Chair will aim at combining the needs of didactic innovation with training and professional updating in EU studies.

Consequently, the project is relevant because it intends to stimulate teaching, research and debating activities in a crucial area of European integration studies, in order to: