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What is a Jean Monnet Chair? 

A Jean Monnet Chair is a university chair awarded by the European Commission (Erasmus+) to support research and debate in the field of European Union integration. Their objective is to reinforce teaching, research and diffusion of European integration both in Member States of the European Union and in other countries.

Jean Monnet Chairs support activities which enhance the dialogue between the academic world and policy-makers with the aim of improving the governance of European Union policies.

Chairs are selected through a competitive process and awarded  to professors and researchers with a high level of specialization in European integration.

 

What is European Governance?

Since 2001 and the European Commission's White Paper on the subject, the issue of governance has become an EU imperative. According to the EUR-Lex Glossary, the expression 'European governance' designates the body of rules, procedures and practices that relate to the way powers are exercised in the EU. The objective is to strengthen democracy at European level and to bring citizens closer to the European institutions.

European governance is based on the following principles:

  • opening up and transparency of the EU institutions;
  • involving civil society in decision-making;
  • framing and implementing consistent and well-managed policies;
  • ensuring a clear, stable and predictable regulatory framework supporting growth and jobs;
  • respecting the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity;
  • ensuring that each of the EU institutions and EU countries explains and takes responsibility for what it does in Europe;
  • contributing to the global governance debate with a view to improve the operation of international institutions.

In order to improve understanding in this area, the activities of the JMC are focused on the production and diffusion of research about the European governance model and its evolution process. However, this is also complemented through  academic and dissemination activities aimed at spreading debates related to European governance.

 

The history of the JMC in European Governance 

In September 2015, the Commission awarded one of these chairs to the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), to Prof. Dr. Javier Arregui, Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences and expert in processes of decision-making and policy-making within the European Union.

Since 2016, the JMC in EU governance has been actively pursuing its teaching, research and dissemination objectives. The success of the two last funding periods (2015-2018 and 2018-2021) has brought to a renewal of the project for the 2021-2024 framework