Professor Gunther Hellmann of Goethe University Discusses EU Policy

Professor Gunther Hellmann of Goethe University Discusses EU Policy

EU Policy: Crises in Eastern Europe and the Middle East On January 13, 2015, AFR was honored to welcome Professor Gunther Hellmann from Goethe University, Germany, to Taiwan for a speech on EU foreign policy regarding crises in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.  Professor Hellmann received his Master of Science in Foreign Service with distinction from Georgetown before becoming a visiting doctoral student at the Harvard Kennedy School and receiving his doctorate from the Department of Political Science of the Free University Berlin in 1991. He has held numerous distinguished positions at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies – Johns Hopkins, the Transatlantic Academy in Washington D.C., and Goethe University, among other well-respected academic institutions.  Professor Hellman discussed how the EU is a unique security actor because of its diverse composition, objectives, and post-Cold War history. It has several special foreign policy instruments – including the promise of EU membership and the European Neighbor Policy (ENP) – at its disposal. He argued that various crises, including refugee extraction, terrorism, genocide, and aggressive territorial expansion, are posing new challenges for the institution. He concluded that the EU can adapt to these new threats and remain strong without disintegration.   The esteemed Professor Hungdah Su from National Taiwan University moderated the discussion.