Sir Stephen Wall: The European Union - How Europe's leaders can hang together - or separately

23 January 2014
Europe is in crisis. The 2014 European Parliament elections will be contested as never before. Will the Euro zone sink or swim? Will the EU itself be condemned to a slow decline or will its members, those in the Euro zone at least, integrate more closely than ever

UCL Department of Political Science Event

Four former practitioners, from different countries and background, commented on the future of the EU in a recent report: Remaking Europe.

In this talk, Stephen Wall will give his view: sombre, realistic and a challenge to political leadership if the European Union is to prosper, not flounder.

Stephen Wall was for 35 years a member of the British Diplomatic Service. He worked closely with five British Foreign Secretaries and was Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister John Major. His European experience includes five years as Head of the Foreign Office European Department;  two years as Britain's  ambassador to Portugal; five years as UK Permanent Representative to the EU and four years as EU adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair and Head of the European Secretariat in the Cabinet Office. His book on Britain's EU policy, 'A Stranger in Europe', was published in 2008. He has written The Official History of Britain and the European Community, 1963-1975, published in July 2012.

Current positions held include:

• Chair of the Council of University College London
• Official Historian for the Cabinet Office, writing the Official History of Britain and the European Community, 1975-1991
• Chair of the Federal Trust
• Chair of Trustees at Cumberland Lodge
• Honorary Fellow of Selwyn College Cambridge
• Member of the Board of Trustees of the Thomson Foundation
• Trustee of the Franco-British Council
• Vice-Chair of Business for New Europe
• Co-chair of the Belgo-British Conference

Sir Stephen is also the Chair of the UCL European Institute Advisory Board.