International Conference: The European Union after Brexit

Friday, 04 June 2021 19:25

International Conference: The European Union after Brexit was held hybridly in the Large and Small Conference Hall and online. The Conference was organized by the International Economics and Politics Faculty - UNWE jointly with the Union of  Economists in Bulgaria and the Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region – ASECU.

The Conference was opened by the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov. Welcoming speeches to participants were also addressed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maria Bakalova, Dean of the Faculty of International Economics and Politics, Prof. Dr. Tatiana Hubenova-Delisivkova, President of the Union of Economist in Bulgaria, Prof. Dr. Grigoris Zarotiadis, President of ASECU and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Paskal Zhelev, Deputy Dean for Quality and International Cooperation of the Faculty of International Economics and Politics.

 Prof. Grigoris Zarotiadis, Prof. Tatiana Hubenova-Delisivkova, Assoc. Prof. Maria Bakalova, Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov, Assoc. Prof. Paskal Zhelev (from the left to the right)
"It is a real pleasure for me to welcome so many participants in this International Conference. The Conference topic is very important because it affects all of us, both in Bulgaria and around the world. There are many important cases - political, social and financial - that need to be discussed in this field. I believe that the topic is rich in content and all participants will brilliantly present their works. I hope that the organizers from our university will contribute to find a solution of problems in all aspects of the topic under discussion", said Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov.
 The Rector Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov
"We chose this topic because of its importance to all of us. When the original idea for this Conference came up, the lockdown interrupted the attendance events. So we decided to turn the disadvantage into an advantage. Because of the corona virus situation and the high level of digitization, we were able to invite a lot of international guests and participants to join online. The topic about Brexit is extremely important and more people need to get acquainted with the changes that will come", said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maria Bakalova.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maria Bakalova
In her welcoming speech, Prof. Dr. Tatiana Hubenova-Delisivkova pointed out how impressed she was by the quick and mobilized reaction of the participants who should present their reports: “Everything happened very quickly, thanks to the interest of participants. Brexit is one of the most significant events of our time. There is a lot to comment, complement and formulate so that we give importance to all the positive and negative sides of the final result".
Prof. Tatiana Hubenova-Delisivkova 
Prof. Dr. Grigoris Zarotiadis commented the importance of Brexit and the European Union and the future of people related to them all over the world. He mentioned that a change in society is expected as Brexit affects actual social issues, including human relations, spoken language and other topics that are at a first glance displaced by political developments.
Prof. Grigoris Zarotiadis 

"Brexit is the most popular topic in Europe after the pandemic. It is an honour for us to organize such a large-scale event on topic important for the entire world. We are happy that participants from all over the world accepted the invitation to participate in today's discussion and therefore I thank to all the organizations that helped make it happen", said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Paskal Zhelev.

Assoc. Prof. Paskal Zhelev
The Conference work was organized in four thematic panels, covering a variety of actual issues related to Brexit as the Financial Challenges and Prospects, Political and International Implications of Brexit, the Impact of Brexit on Trade and Investment, and Cultural Transformations in the EU after Brexit.
In the Large Conference Hall
During the Conference reports were presented by participants from 14 states and 3 continents as the USA, China, Turkey, Ukraine, Greece, Albania, Switzerland, Canada, Armenia, Georgia, Macedonia.
Moderator of the first panel was Prof. Dr. Tatiana Hubenova-Delisivkova. Reports on fiscal rules and financial instruments in the EU after Brexit, tax aspects of Brexit through the eyes of Bulgaria and Brexit and the financial sector of the United Kingdom were discussed.
During the second panel were discussed issues related to the Brexit and the EU citizenship, the post-Brexit democracy deficit in the EU, the geopolitical dimensions of Brexit and the future of the EU. The moderator was Lyubomir Kyuchukov, Director of the Institute of Economics and International Relations. 
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Paskal Zhelev was the moderator of the third panel. The participants discussed important topics related to the economic relations between the United Kingdom and China after Brexit in the post-pandemic era, trade relations between the EU and the UK after Brexit, the free trade agreements of the UK with non-EU countries - the case with the countries of the Black Sea region as well as US, EU and China as leading players in world trade and cyber security - differences and convergences.

The moderator of the fourth panel was Prof. Dr. Daniela Koh-Kozhuharova, lecturer at the Foreign Languages and Applied Linguistics Department. The impact of Brexit on higher education, can English remain the official language of the EU after Brexit as well as the difference of digital trade strategy between the UK and the EU and its institutional implication were the main topics discussed during the panel.

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