 moment because having heard the voices of experience in Ireland and later on of course we're going to hear some of the most experienced figures on the EU stage but what about the next generation we're now going to hear emerging voices on the future of the EU in 2050 five students from leading universities on the island of Ireland with their vision for the future of the EU and our first speaker is from Trinity College Dublin she's Mary Sophie Hinkst a PhD candidate and she's going to talk about embracing difference. Good morning dear Tishi, dear ladies and gentlemen as it is impossible to predict the future looking into the past sometimes offers insights that prove valuable in how we imagine a European future. Doing so allows us to detect moments when indeed the future inevitably was changed. One of such moments took place right across the street here in Trinity College Dublin. At the end of the 19th century 10,000 women signed a petition demanding access to college. The efforts met unsurprisingly fierce resistance but they remained resilient. Finally in 1904 the board was forced to relent when it received a royal patent allowing women to receive full degrees. But this particular moment had far greater implication than to astonish conservative professors and to allow Sophie Bryant the first female doctor of mathematics to ride on her bike over campus. The decision to make Trinity a mixed campus supported the cause of female students all over Europe. Between 1904 and 1907 Trinity played host to the so-called steamboat ladies. Female graduates from England who were denied degrees by their own universities. Those 722 women boarded a boat to receive the degree they had earned alongside their male peers. The anecdote of the steamboat ladies is not exclusively a tale from the past about female empowerment or this tribe for equality in Europe. But it comes as a reminder for the future that it is not the individual even though many of those women peonied and exiled in their field but that cooperation is essential for the success of all. Earlier than other they realized the only alternative in a globalized world are various forms of interaction. But recently looming Brexit and fierce resistance by Eastern European member states to accepting refugees from war on Syria and Libya exposed the limits of the idea of a shared European identity. In this distinct moment of crisis it seems crucial to keep the courage of the steamboat ladies in mind that only a Europe that is not afraid to crevel debate and argue about difficult topics and I think in the next 25 years all topics be they of political, social or economical nature will be challenging. And to explore existing differences while being willing to be persistent and resilient when it comes to defend essential values as it's strongest shaping the future for the better. Sophie Bryant once described the Irish as a community of spirit. Being Irish in this sense equals with being European. A better wish for the future of Europe is hard to find and it is upon us now to find a steamboat that keeps this very spirit alive for all of us. Thank you very much. And our next speaker comes from NUI Manuth. Michael Barrett is an undergraduate and he's going to speak about defending democracy. Ladies and gentlemen in this day and age with the return and consistent upsurge of identity extreme and populist politics it all too often seems to me that with each and every electoral process the democratic world seems to be crossing the Rubicon into a world of the unknown. Democracy both within and outside of Europe is in a state of stagnation. Within Europe and neighbouring states from Viktor Orban's Hungary to Putin's Russia and Erdogan's Turkey backsliding into the authoritarian politics of old persists often born out of the genuine insecurities of normal citizens unsure of their futures and no longer trusting of mainstream democratic politics. A theme evident throughout the democratic world. This is a particular challenge for the EU that of Hungary and Poland had been held up as stellar examples of what an EU guided transition to democracy could achieve. The extent of rule of law backsliding and sorry has been truly alarming and has caused doubt of the EU's capacity to positively impact political and societal transformation. There should be a clear link established between the dispersal of EU subvention principally structural funds and compliance with rule of law in the member states. If the EU is anything it is a union of rules and rule of law and if those rules are subject to such serious violation the union itself shall be hollowed out of its founding print democratic impulses but it is due to this very reality that you must act and act now with the ambiguous status of the United States which looks to be returning to a protectionist state of isolationism and the somber exit of the UK from the European Union the growing influence globally of authoritarian states be it the people's Republic of China or Putin's Russia on the international stage which need not acknowledged out of human rights or democratic politics in their affairs such as global trade. It is therefore in my view the EU's responsibility if not duty to unite reassert and defend itself as a bastion of democracy on an international stage now and into the future. This really means standing up for articles two and six of the Treaty of European Union namely the respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality upholding the rule of law and fundamental rights. Therefore the Europe of 2050 that I would like to see is one in a world that revolves less around leaders and leadership and more around civil society, activism, engagement and impact on politics both within Europe and globally. Thank you. Our third speaker is from University College Cork she's Kathleen Jeffries an undergraduate and her theme is going back to basics. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen my vision for the European Union in 2050 is a braver European Union a stronger actor on the international stage by 2050 we will face new and different global threats in areas such as cyber security, climate change, economics, security and migration. The European Union of 2050 must first and foremost have the capacity to protect its citizens from these threats and to robustly represent the views of its member states on the international stage. The European Union needs to demonstrate collective strength and shared resolve in order to achieve that. By strengthening its internal basis by revisiting and respecting its core principles the EU can be more outward looking and be a greater force for good in today's troubled world. I believe that the European Union needs to go back to basics in order to achieve this back to the original conception of the Union and the principles upon which it was founded namely the Treaty of Rome and the Four Freedoms. Article three of the Treaty of Rome tells us that the activities of the community shall include the elimination as between member states of restrictions on the import and export of goods and the abolition as between member states of obstacles to freedom of movement for persons, services and capital. Clearly the Four Freedoms present different challenges to different member states however it's vital to the future success of the European Union that we strengthen these critical building blocks to achieve a more cohesive Union better able to develop and prosper in the future. In the European Commission's white paper on the future of Europe Jean-Claude Juncker says that it's time for us to remind ourselves of the values that bind us together and I agree with him. In my opinion the unwillingness of member states to fully accept and implement the Four Freedoms has led to the weakening of the foundations of Europe. I wholeheartedly believe that my vision for the European Union in the year 2050 a braver stronger actor on the international stage tackling the global threat of 2050 can be achieved but it can only do this if the Union's fundamentals are sound if the EU goes back to basics. As a young person in today's Europe my horizons are international. For the European Union to thrive develop and meet future threats and challenges it needs to adopt a similar outlook. Going back to basics can help shape a better future for me for you and for all of the citizens of Europe. Thank you. And our fourth speaker is from University College Dublin he's Sean Dunn a master's student and Sean is going to speak about security. Good morning. We've been tasked with the job this morning of looking into the future and envisioning what European Union is going to look like in 2050. Of course none of us has a looking glass but given our current climate all we can do is take an educated guess as to what we may expect. By no means is this an easy task. We live in an age now where many things are changing sometimes by the second and we can expect this to continue into the future. When I sat down to write this over the weekend I told about being 28 years old and a part-time master's student in politics in UCD but by 2050 I will be 60 years old and many things will have changed. There are many pressing issues within the EU presently but what has struck out in my mind for some time now is the ever-growing concern surrounding security and defence in Europe. For the first time now terrorism is seen as a major challenge facing the European Union in our current climate. Terrorism is now top of the issues that citizens within the European Union cite when it comes to challenges currently being faced. Immigration which has been a top concern since spring 2015 is now second the most frequently cited challenge. Terrorism is well ahead of the economic situation. Through my work as a journalist over the past number of years, breaking news stories of terrorist attacks have sadly become all too common in newsrooms across the world. In 2015 the horrific attacks on the city of Paris and the battle-clone theater broke as I sat on the late news desk. 130 people died that night in one of the worst terrorist attacks to hit Europe. In the following days I was tasked with interviewing survivors including Irish people and hearing these stories makes me realise that one of our greatest difficulties facing Europe is now protecting its citizens from future attacks like these. London, Madrid, Paris and Germany have all been targeted and this has sent ripples of fear across Europe but it is our job as the future voices within Europe to try and stamp out this fear. We need to continue to play security and protection of EU citizens and on a global level to the forefront of society. I think as we look ahead to the years ahead and what we want to have achieved by 2050 it is important that public support for migrants remains in sharp focus. Since the series of terrorist attacks that have swept Europe in the past two years support for migration has dwindled and this is an issue that we future voices must keep a watchful eye on in the years to come. These attacks have exposed a lack of security cooperation among European nations and this is what we the future voices of the EU must work hard to improve upon and I feel greater lines of communication and transparency must be kept open between member states in the years to come. Thank you. And finally from Queen's University Belfast Lisa Whitten who's doing her PhD and Lisa is going to speak about the EU a framework for connection. Thank you. As I'm now the last obstacle between yourselves in a cup of coffee I'll keep this brief. In 1978 John Monet set forward his conviction that by holding to new fixed principles created to guide European integration we on the continent would inevitably be led to United States of Europe. Respectfully I disagree. In a world of hyper connection the international arena is less predictable and more complex meaning that the nature of the state is changing. States are becoming less static as our networks, identities and affiliations cross cut overlap intermingle and span the globe. On this premise I would suggest that the United States of Europe is not inevitable rather that the EU already reflects the kind of open-endedness that polities require in order to thrive in the present and future realm of international relations. Since its foundation there has been a struggle for language over the nature and direction of European integration. Is this intergovernmentalism writ large or federalism in waiting? Is the EU a collection of states bound solely by law or a new recon or new configuration of Anderson's imagined community? In this sense the EU has an asymptotic quality. It is as a line that tends towards but never reaches its destination. Under the vision of ever closer union the ultimate goal is unstated. It matters not what we become just that we do it together. It is a union premised on process, a consensus of means. But what if the constructively ambiguous lack of destination of the EU were reimagined not as a reason for dispute or issue to solve but rather as the very essence of the whole endeavor? A few weeks ago we commemorated the signing of the Good Friday Belfast Agreement, another constructively ambiguous entity based on a consensus of means, wherein the constitutional character of Northern Ireland became subordinate to the ways in which we choose to interact. I am both Irish and British. I am a European and I'm from Northern Ireland. My collection of identities are made possible in an international framework of multiplicity that the EU exemplifies and should pursue. So in short, my vision for a 93 year old European Union is not more Europe read federalism or less Europe read intergovernmentalism, but a third way, dynamic Europe. A place characterised by its nexus of multiple overlapping and ever changing institutions. Institutions that are defined by complexity unashamedly open to evolution and that serve as points of connection and means of collaboration for the diverse group of people and peoples living on the continent. Thank you very much.