Professor Hermann-Josef Blanke honoured with "Jean Monnet Chair"

This is the first time that an Erfurt professorship has been honoured within the framework of this programme, which is named after one of the pioneers of European integration and one of the "Fathers of Europe". In the course of the ERASMUS Jean Monnet Programme, since 1989 the European Union has been honouring university professors who have made outstanding achievements in research and teaching in the field of European integration. The award is accompanied by funding for the three-year project.

The work programme, entitled "Constitutional Prerequisites for the Future Viability of the European Union", will strengthen the existing focal points of the Chair’s work in the field of European integration. The project aims to deepen knowledge of the European Union in legal as well as social dialogue within teaching, research and a series of discussions with civil society. Within the third pillar, it is intended to bring together representatives from state, society, economy  and academia on current European issues, namely under the aspect ‘The future viability of the European Union’, using the structures of the Staatswissenschaftliches Forum e.V., which have grown over two decades," says Blanke.

The funding will flow into various teaching and conference projects of the Chair. In addition to seminars and field trips, innovative formats such as regional citizens' forums on the future shape of the European integration process are planned. The results of these regional citizens' forums are to be incorporated into the academic work of the Chair.

In research, among other things, a project that has no precedent will be continued in order to analyse primary Union law after the Treaty of Lisbon (2009) in a pan-European commentary. This involves 130 academics and practitioners from all over the Union and some neighbouring countries. After the Commentary on the Treaty on European Union was published in 2013, the first volume of a comprehensive analysis of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union followed in 2021. The overall commentary is devoted in particular to the policies of the Union, including the Economic and Monetary Union.