Centre of European Values

ongoing

Europe is facing many societal challenges that require international responses. For a successful implementation of (European) policy to confront these challenges, broad support from large segments of the European population is important. Insights into the interaction between Europeans values and policy making can be enhanced: Europeans have not always clear ideas about what Europe is doing for them, while policy makers sometimes have inaccurate conceptions of public sentiments. The aim of this Centre of European Values at Tilburg University is to study and disseminate insights on the complex interplay between values and (European) policy-making on important societal issues. To accomplish this objective, the Centre will bring together expertise from the European Values Study with renowned experts from all corners of Tilburg University. While the academic debate will involve existing public opinion data, novel data will be collected and confronted with major policy initiatives; combined findings will be made available in Open Access publications. The insights generated from academic discussions, which in its initial phase undergird the six policy priorities by the European Commission presided by Ursula von der Leyen, will serve several purposes. First of all, these novel findings should inform students otherwise not familiar with EU Studies. The Centre will propose a Module on “The Future of Europe” to be offered at ENGAGE European University Initiative, having a potential to reach 70.000 students per year. Second, the Centre will involve policy-makers at all political levels (local, regional, national and European) to assure that the academic findings contribute to policy-making. Last but not least, in cooperation with Studium Generale, we will organize events for a non-academic audience that has a general appetite for Europe to make them acquainted with the fascinating interplay between what Europeans find important, and how policy makers address these concerns.