Public lecture

Press release — 17 October 2012

Dr Anke Schmidt-Felzmann from the University of Stockholm (Sweden) will give a public lecture about

THE EU´S PERFORMANCE IN ITS RELATIONS WITH THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

on 29 October  2012, 14.15-15.45 at the Faculty of the Social Sciences and Education (Lossi 36), room 214

Much of the debate about the EU’s problems as an international actor has focused on the failure of national governments to ‘speak with one voice’. EU member states have been particularly strongly criticized for ‘undermining’ the EU’s policy towards the Russian Federation. The lecture takes this observation as a point of departure and explores the reasons for why the EU has struggled to influence Russia.

Anke Schmidt-Felzmann is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Political Science at Stockholm University. Her research focuses on European Union and its member states’ foreign policies, with an emphasis on energy and trade relations as well as human rights and democracy promotion. Her post-doctoral research project investigates why, how, and to what extent national foreign policy choices affect the EU´s capacity and effectiveness as a global actor.

Dr. Schmidt-Felzmann is currently a CEURUS Visting Fellow. For more info, see also her personal website

The lecture is organized by the Centre for EU-Russia Studies (CEURUS), University of Tartu.