TORONTO, September 18, 2000 -- A York University/University of Toronto joint Institute of European Studies aimed at encouraging Canadian study and research of European integration will be inaugurated by the head of the European Commission Delegation in Canada, Danièle Smadja, on Thursday, September 21.

"There is a need for Canada to become better acquainted with the European Union of today," said York University Prof. Jeff Peck, who will co-direct the institute with Prof. Scott Eddie of the University of Toronto. "The Institutes of European Studies will enable us to focus all of the existing expertise in Canada on European affairs and make it accessible to the public in a meaningful way," said Eddie. He said the York/UofT Institute will connect the teaching programs in European studies at the two universities, provide for collaborative research with European scholars, and sponsor events and programs of interest to the wider community and to European business men and women in Toronto.

Suzanne Gordon, the joint institute's postdoctoral fellow at York University, says the recent changes in Europe are important to Canada and Canadian businesses engaged in international trade. "Every issue of concern imaginable to a nation state, from education and the economy to culture and health, is now being dealt with in a transnational Europe," said Gordon, who has conducted extensive research into the creation of new corporate forms under EU law and the harmonization of national and transnational regulation of these entities. "This offers us lessons in the complexities of globalization, as well as the challenges of integrating the economies of smaller states into larger trading entities."

The 15-member EU is Canada's second largest trading partner after the United States, with two-way trade in goods and services exceeding $59 billion in 1998. Canada now exports about $18 billion annually to the EU, but its exports have not kept pace with EU economic growth. In 1999, the 11 countries of the euro-zone, with a population of 300-million, matched US global economic output of 20 per cent. The EU is now the world's largest single market, valued at US$8.6-trillion. Nevertheless, Canada's trade focus has continued to shift away from Europe and towards the USA and Mexico, while both Canada and the US have lost market share in the EU as intra-EU trade has grown.

The European Commission (EC) has funded four institutes across the country to foster a Canada-wide interest in the changes taking place in Europe in an era of globalized trade. Funding of 55,000 euro ($69,805) for each institute has been awarded also to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Carleton University in Ottawa, and McGill and the Université de Montréal in Montreal. Ambassador Smadja will attend opening festivities for the Toronto-based Institute at York University's Atkinson building at 9:30 a.m., and at the University of Toronto, Trinity College, 6 Hoskin Ave. at 3 p.m., hosted by the Munk Centre for International Studies (see attached program).

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For further information, please contact:

Judy Noordermeer
Public Affairs
University of Toronto
(416) 978-4289
judy.noordermeer@utoronto.ca

Susan Bigelow
Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22091
sbigelow@yorku.ca
YU/090/00

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Launch of Joint European Studies Institute
At York University and the University of Toronto

PROGRAM

YORK UNIVERSITY
Harry Crowe Room, 109 Atkinson Building, 4700 Keele Street

9:30-10:00 a.m. - Welcome

Jeff Peck, Co-Director, Institute of European Studies

Lorna Marsden, President, York University

Stan Shapson, Vice-President, Research and Innovation

Sheila Embleton, Vice-President, Academic

10:00-10:15 a.m. - Ambassador Danièle Smadja, Head of Delegation of the European Commission in Canada

10:15-11:45 a.m. - Research Presentations

Suzanne Gordon, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of European Studies

Edelgard Mahant, Chair, Dept. of Political Science, Glendon College

Sofie Tzoutzi, Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Political Science

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Combination Room, Trinity College, 6 Hoskin Avenue

3:00-3:15 p.m. - Opening Remarks

Janice Gross Stein, Director, Munk Centre for International Studies & Harrowston Professor in Conflict Management and Negotiation

Robert Birgeneau, President, University of Toronto

3:15-3:30 p.m. - Ambassador Danièle Smadja, Head of Delegation of the European Commission in Canada

3:30-3:40 p.m. - Scott Eddie, Co-Director, Institute of European Studies

3:40-5:00 p.m. - Research Presentations

Ron Pruessen, Chair, Dept. of History

Cheryl Webster, Ph.D. Candidate, Centre of Criminology

David Pantalony, Ph.D. Candidate, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

5:00 p.m. - Closing Remarks: Carl G. Amrhein, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Science

Reception at Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 1 Devonshire Place, Toronto