Faculty of International Relations supports the Czech Presidency

The Faculty of International Relations actively supports the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, both through interns, whom it has sent to Brussels on the basis of several selection procedures and through scientific projects that experts from the Faculty of International Relations have been working on for the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic.

A total of 16 students from the Faculty of International Relations, who are mostly students of European Economic Integration or International Studies and Diplomacy, are working as interns at the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic in Brussels from June and July 2022. Other students have been sent by the faculty to other missions and embassies of the Czech Republic (Rome, Stockholm, Riga) in support of the Presidency, and FIR students are currently also interning at the Czech Centre in Brussels. In total, FIR has sent 22 of its students on internships related to the Presidency.

Already since August 2020, experts from the Department of International Studies and Diplomacy, the Department of International Economic Relations and the Department of Business and European Law have participated in three applied research projects within the framework of the BETA2 call of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, which focused on the topic of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the user of whose results is the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic. In all three projects, FIR cooperated with VŠB-TUO and in the project focused on the communication of the Presidency also with the Department of Multimedia of the Faculty of Informatics and Statistics of the Prague University of Economics and Business.

Three FIR research projects on the Council Presidency

Setting up a coordination mechanism within the Presidency of the Council of the EU: preparations and progress from the perspective of selected Member States, lessons learned and recommendations for CZ PRES 2022

Setting up a coordination mechanism within the Presidency of the Council of the EU: preparations and progress from the perspective of selected Member States, lessons learned and recommendations for CZ PRES 2022

Based on an analysis of existing studies and literature and the implementation of three types of structured interviews (actors of the Presidency within the Czech Republic, the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic and the EU institutions in Brussels, and the Permanent Mission in Geneva, still missions of other states), the project aims to draw up appropriate scenarios for the organizational and coordination aspects of the Czech Presidency (based on different models or combinations thereof) which will reflect the positive and negative experiences of the presidency of comparable EU Member States, taking into account the expected objectives, agenda, economic efficiency, risks and potential during the Czech Presidency. At the same time, the solution will also reflect the various stages of the Presidency, with an emphasis on its preparation, performance, and return to its original state.

Team:

doc. Ing. Mgr. Radka Druláková, Ph.D., SMS JM, principal investigator
doc. Ing. Pavel Hnát, Ph.D., KSE
Mgr. Ing. Kateřina Kočí, Ph.D., SMS JM
Mgr. Jarolím Antal, KSE
doc. JUDr. Nicole Grmelová, Ph.D., KPEP
Ing. Zbyněk Dubský, Ph.D., SMS JM
Ing. Josef Bič, Ph.D., SMS JM
Ing. Jana Hovorková, Ph.D., SMS JM
Ing. Eva Grebe, KSE
Ing. Jana Stehlíková, SMS JM

Presidency Trio, What Can We Expect from Our Partners

The main objective is to identify the content of the Presidency programme of the upcoming FR-CZ-SE trio that would adequately reflect the (preliminary) national priorities (or priority areas) of the respective country Presidencies, taking into account the recommendations that would follow for the Czech Republic in negotiating the joint programme. The sub-objectives are therefore: preliminary identification of the main national priorities of the individual members of the presidency trio and possible negotiating positions; identification of possible common areas that would be appropriate to focus on in the preparation of the joint presidency programme of the trio (and at the same time presenting controversial areas that should be avoided); creation of an overview of the positions of the other members of the trio on the areas that can be assumed to be priorities of the Czech Republic (identification of “friction areas” and areas of possible cooperation).

Team:
doc. Ing. Mgr. Radka Druláková, Ph.D., KMSD, Principal Investigator
doc. Ing. Pavel Hnát, Ph.D., KMEV
Mgr. Ing. Kateřina Kočí, Ph.D., KMSD
Mgr. Jarolím Antal, Ph.D., KMEV
doc. Ing. Michaela Staníčková, Ph.D., KMEV EkF VŠB-TUO
Ing. Lukáš Melecký, Ph.D., KMEV EkF VŠB-TUO

Regional dimension of the Presidency's communication and cooperation with schools

The solution of the project involves linking a unique public opinion survey on European affairs in relation to NUTS 3 regions (i.e. in the case of the Czech Republic, regions), taking into account their specificities (media, communication, thematic) with a deeper analysis at the level of different population groups and the involvement of different actors and the overall media and communication environment. The output will be several sub-analyses that will become part of the research report, recommendations for a communication strategy (including specificities of individual regions and themes, actors, and appropriate tools), and training modules that will be adapted for different population groups (primary schools, secondary schools, universities, and the public).

Team:
Mgr. Mgr. Ing. Kateřina Kočí, Ph.D., FMV KMSD – Principal Investigator
doc. Ing. Pavel Hnát, Ph.D., FMV KMEV
Mgr. Jarolím Antal, Ph.D., FMV KMEV
Mgr. Ing. Daniel Houska, Ph.D., FMV KPEP
Ing. Zdeněk Vondra, Ph.D., FIS KME