The chapter is part of the volume "The Canada Model and Post-Brexit EU Trade Relations Insights from the 'Other' Transatlantic Partner", edited by Nanette Neuwahl and Amy Verdun.

Here is the link to the volume on the publisher's website: www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/1...

CETA has always been much more than "just" a trade agreement. Its history reveals as much about the inner workings of the EU as an international actor and multilevel legal order, as it does about attempts to forge closer relations between "like minded" partners in geopolitically challenging times.

In conclusion, while I'm still quite confident about the future of Europe (and the EUI), I'm not so sure about the Economist.

After reflecting on this article, rather than wondering about "What is Europe?", I find myself asking "Was that journalism?"

I wish you all a good Sunday!

4️⃣ What's up with that "Los Alamos" comparison? Nothing ever coming out of the EUI, not even the articles with the most staggering citations numbers, ever killed tens of thousands of people (to my knowledge at least). Moreover, it's in the desert and its wines are no match for even mediocre Chianti.

3️⃣ I question this alleged need for a "channel" from the EUI to the EU institutions for ushering in new officials. We have already the College of Europe as the more practice-oriented graduate institute. Moreover, there is intrinsic value in experts with a healthy level of distance from practice.

2️⃣ On real world relevance and "animating vision", I cannot think of a place more influential than the EUI to have framed the debate on EU law, and how it relates to national law and international law ("Integration through law", "constitutionalization thesis", "multilevel governance" etc).

1️⃣ A British establishment publication making fun of the EUI for being an "ivory tower" detached from the "real world" blows my mind. If you point one finger (or "magic wand", because Harry Potter metaphors...), you point the other four at drinking Pimms wearing a cloak at a high table.

Dan geef mij maar liever “I fok horses”.