Final conference: Unpacking the EU's integrated approach to external conflicts and crises

As the Horizon 2020-funded EUNPACK project nears its end, this final conference will provide an opportunity to look back at three years of research and fieldwork and to consider the policy implications of its findings. How has EU crisis response been shaped by the two gaps the projects analysed – between intentions and implementation and between implementation and local reception/perceptions? How did these gaps determine the EU’s ability to contribute more effectively to problem-solving on the ground? To answer these questions, EUNPACK combines bottom-up perspectives with an institutional approach in order to deepen our understanding of how EU crisis responses function and are received on the ground in crisis areas. This entails exploring local agencies and perceptions in target countries without losing sight of the EU’s institutions, their expectations and ambitions. It also entails examining the whole crisis cycle. 

The final conference will bring together EUNPACK researchers and their peers with policymakers, civil society representatives and other practitioners, drawn from universities, think tanks, the EU institutions, and diplomatic missions in Brussels.