The Jean Monnet 30th Anniversary Conference

The Jean Monnet 30th Anniversary Conference took place on September 18, 2019. It was opened by EU Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer and Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Boris Zhelezov.

The Jean Monnet program is one of the flagship programs of the European Union. It was launched in 1989 to support academic teaching and research in the field of European integration studies. Initially, it was open to academics in the European Union but soon after, in 2001, it expanded to include stakeholders from all around the world.

For several years in a row Russia has been the leading country worldwide as regards the number of applications for Jean Monnet activities. In the period 2015-2018, a total of 113 Jean Monnet projects were started up or carried out by Russian universities.

"The EU and Russia are and will remain to be globally very important neighbours that are linked with each other through a wide range of bilateral and multilateral ties and shared interests. It is everyone's hope, and our shared responsibility, that relations will improve, and your contribution to this end cannot be overestimated. – pointed out Ambassador Ederer in his welcome speech to the participants of the conference. - The opportunity for informed dialogue which you provide at your universities is very important. I am convinced that it is through better knowledge of each other that we can narrow our differences, ensure a better understanding between Russia and the European Union, and thus contribute to better relations in the future."