ESC Annual Lecture

2021-22 The Rt. Hon. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, KT, House of Lords

The 2021/22 Annual Lecture took place on Tuesday, 17th May 2022. Former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson spoke on The Future of European Security after the War in Ukraine.

The event was jointly hosted by ESC Director Hartmut Mayer and SEESOX Director Othon Anastasakis

Watch a recording of the lecture on Youtube

Read a transcript from the Lecture

2019-20 Vivien A. Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Professor of International Relations and Political Science, Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

The 2019/20 Annual Lecture took place on Tuesday, 27 October 2020, online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Vivien A. Schmidt spoke on Legitimacy Lost, but then Regained? EU Governance during the Eurozone Crisis, the Migration Crisis, and the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Hartmut Mayer (Director, European Studies Centre) was Chair.

2018-19 Dr Nathalie Tocci, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Italy

The 2018/19 Annual Lecture took place on Friday, 17 May 2019. Dr Nathalie Tocci spoke on The Global Rationale for the European Project in the 21st Century, post Brexit.

Hartmut Mayer (Director, European Studies Centre) was Chair.

2017-18 Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s former Foreign Minister

The 2017/18 Annual Lecture took place on Thursday 31st May 2018. Sigmar Gabriel spoke on Europe in an Increasingly Uncomfortable World.

Hartmut Mayer (Director, European Studies Centre) was Chair.

2016-17 Mark Mazower, Columbia University

The 2016/17 Annual Lecture took place on Friday 11th November 2016. Mark Mazower spoke on Revisiting the Dark Continent: Thoughts on Europe Today.

Paul Betts (St Antony’s College) was Chair.

2016 Lord Chris Patten, Chancellor, University of Oxford and Patron of the ESC

The 2016 ESC Annual Lecture took place on Thursday 26th May 2016. Chris Patten spoke on Why Britain Should Stay in the European Union

2015 Nikos Kotzias, Foreign Minister of Greece

The 2015 ESC Annual Lecture took place on Wednesday 10th June 2015. Nikos Kotzias spoke on Greek Foreign Policy at a Time of Crisis

2014 Deputy Prime Minister The Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP

The 2014 ESC Annual Lecture took place on Tuesday 20th May 2014.

The lecture transcript is available here

The video recording of the lecture is available here

2012-13 Wolfgang Schäuble, German Federal Minister of Finance

The 2012/2013 ESC Annual Lecture took place on Monday 29th October 2012.

The lecture transcript is available here 
The audio recording of the lecture is available here
The video recording of the lecture is available here

2012 Jean-Claude Trichet, Honorary Governor of Banque de France, Former President of European Central Bank​

The 2012 ESC Annual Lecture took place on Friday 8th June 2012.

2011 Claus Offe, Professor of Political Sociology, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin

The 2011 ESC Annual Lecture took place on Friday 4th March 2011 Listen here.

2010 Jürgen Kocka, Professor Emeritus at the Free University of Berlin and Research Professor Emeritus at the Social Science Research Centre Berlin​

The 2010 ESC Annual Lecture took place on Friday 21st May 2010

2009 Joschka Fischer, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations​

The 2009 ESC Annual Lecture took place on Wednesday 25th February 2009

2007-08 Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission

Text of full speech [PDF]: Europe and the challenges of globalisation

2007 Massimo D’Alema, Italian Foriegn Minister.

The 2007 ESC Annual Lecture took place on Tuesday 8th May 2007. D’Alema spoke on Fifty years after Rome – Lessons and Visions for European Integration

2006 Prime Minister Tony Blair

Prime Minister Tony Blair delivered the Lecture on the subject of Britain and Europe.

Tony Blair transcript

2005 Bernard Bot, Minister of Foriegn Affairs of the Kingdom of Netherlands

Bernard Bot spoke on ‘Great Game or European fair play? The European Union and the world in the twenty-first century’.

2004 Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey

The Lecture discussed ‘Why the European Union needs Turkey’.

2003 George Papandreou, Foriegn Minister of Greece

George Papandreou spoke on ‘The Future of Europe after Iraq’.

2002 Jose Maria Aznar, Prime Minister of Spain

In the inaugural European Studies Centre Lecture Jose Maria Aznar gave his ‘Reflections on the future of Europe’.