Following the publication of the paper Ireland and the EU: Defending Our Common European Home, Brian Hayes MEP presented the view of Fine Gael MEPs on Irish defence policy. Dr Barbara Kunz then presented the European context, arguing that French and German objectives do not necessarily coincide, and that differences in strategic culture between France and Germany may even be widening.
About the Speakers:
Brian Hayes, Fine Gael MEP: Brian Hayes is a Fine Gael MEP for Dublin. Brian is a full member of the Economic & Monetary Affairs/ECON, substitute on Development/DEVE & Budgetary control/CONT. He has held a number of senior positions on the Fine Gael Front Bench and represented the constituency of Dublin South West as a TD until May of 2014. Brian has also served as the Fine Gael Leader in the Seanad and as a member of South Dublin County Council.
Dr Barbara Kunz, Research Fellow, IFRI. Barbara Kunz has been research fellow since April 2015. She holds a PhD from Stockholm University/Sweden and a Master’s degree from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. Previously, she spent several years working for the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (Stockholm, Sweden), Bertelsmann Stiftung (Gütersloh, Germany) and Genshagen Foundation (Genshagen close to Berlin, Berlin) respectively. Barbara moreover stayed at the Center for Transatlantic Relations/Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC as well as at the Centre for International Affairs in Warsaw as a visiting fellow.
