IIEA Talks

In his keynote address, Minister Timcho Mucunski reflects on EU enlargement and North Macedonia’s European path at a decisive moment for Europe ahead of Ireland’s forthcoming EU Presidency. He addresses the need for a credible, merit-based accession process and the strategic imperative of integrating the Western Balkans in the EU at a time of geopolitical uncertainty.

Timcho Mucunski is the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of North Macedonia. He has extensive experience across diplomacy, academia and elected office, including as a university law professor, former Deputy Minister, former Member of Parliament and former Mayor of Aerodrom.

Digital policy has emerged as one of the most contentious of policy areas in EU-US relations. Many EU digital policy developments have met with vocal US opposition – including Europe’s pursuit of digital sovereignty, what the US administration perceives as the over-regulation of US firms, the preferencing of European solutions, and EU content moderation rules. Meanwhile in Europe, concerns about perceived threats to European values, democracy, autonomy and competitiveness continue to drive EU digital policy. How Europe and the United States navigate these divergences may carry significant implications for the prosperity, well-being, and security of citizens on both sides of the Atlantic. With Ireland’s role as a transatlantic digital hub and with its forthcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union, Dublin will play a leading role in shaping the future of this critical relationship. In this event, Frances Burwell and Kenneth Propp discuss the prospects and challenges for the future of the EU-US digital policy relations.

About the Speakers:

Frances G. Burwell is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center and a senior director at McLarty Associates. Until January 2017, she served as vice president, European Union and Special Initiatives, at the Council. She has served as director of the Council’s Program on Transatlantic Relations, and as interim director of the Global Business and Economics Program, and currently directs the Transatlantic Digital Marketplace Initiative.

Kenneth Propp is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center. He is also an adjunct professor of European Union Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and a senior fellow with the Cross-Border Data Forum. He advises and advocates on data trade,
privacy, security, and other regulatory issues in the United States and major international markets.

European integration has driven a wide range of social policy developments in Ireland and across Europe over the past fifty years – including rules relating to equality of opportunity, inclusion, fair working conditions, and social protections. However, since the 1990s, EU activity in the social realm has slowed. Today, the existence of a coherent ‘European social model’ in the enlarged EU has been called into question. Ahead of the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU, this expert panel will consider the current state of Europe’s social policy agenda and identify the main gaps and opportunities in European social policy. The panel assesses the extent to which the EU’s competitiveness agenda relates to, and may be enhanced by, a stronger European social dimension. The panel also explores the role of the European social model in influencing public sentiment towards political institutions and European integration.

The panel for this event includes:

Esther Lynch, General Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation
Dr Shana Cohen, Executive Director, Think-tank for Action on Social Change (TASC)
Dr Maria Jepsen, Deputy Director, Eurofound
Nichola Harkin, Head of Employment Law Services, IBEC

Food crises are not anomalies — they are recurring and predictable. COVID-19, Ukraine, the Middle East conflict, and now El Niño forming on the horizon: each shock travels the same transmission channels, driving up input costs, and hitting small-scale farmers first and hardest. These farmers produce a third of the world's food, including up to 70% of the food in Africa, and they operate with thin margins. When input costs spike, production falls, and what begins as a price crisis quickly becomes a hunger crisis, then a stability crisis. The question is no longer whether the next shock is coming. It is whether the world will respond after it hits or invest before it does.

100% of IFAD investments are directed toward the poorest and most marginalized people. In 2024, IFAD’s US$7bln ongoing portfolio reached approximately 95 people, with the objective of increasing productivity and incomes, access markets, employment, and building resilience to shocks.

IFAD President Alvaro Lario makes the case to increase long-term investment in food system transformation and resilience at the "first mile" — the rural communities where food is produced. He also addresses the EU's role, and how Ireland's forthcoming EU Presidency can help turn ambition into delivery.

Alvaro Lario is President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). IFAD was established in the 1970s in response to a global food crisis. It is the world’s fund for transforming agriculture, rural economies, and food systems. Lario is a seasoned international development finance leader, he has more than 20 years of experience across academia, private sector asset management, the World Bank Group and the United Nations, including as Associate Vice-President of Financial Operations at IFAD.

Ferit Hoxha is a career diplomat with over 35 years of experience in the foreign service of the Republic of Albania. Since March 2026, he has been serving as Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Mr Hoxha has had a distinguished and extensive career in multilateral diplomacy and international relations, representing the Republic of Albania at the highest international levels. He has served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2009–2015; 2021–2024), where he led the Albanian delegation during Albania’s tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (2022–2023) and twice held the Presidency of the Security Council. He has also served as Ambassador of the Republic of Albania to the European Union (1998–2001; 2024–2026), as well as Ambassador to France (2001–2006). From 2018 to 2021, he served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to UNESCO.

Within the central administration, Mr Hoxha has held the positions of Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006–2009) and Director General for Political and Strategic Affairs (2015–2018).

Throughout his career, he has contributed actively to multilateral processes and has held senior roles within international organizations, including Vice-President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Vice-President of the UNICEF Executive Board, and chair of key processes within the United Nations Security Council and UNESCO frameworks.

Mr Hoxha graduated from the University of Tirana with a degree in French Language and Literature. He is fluent in English, French, and Italian. He has been awarded high national and international distinctions, including the rank of “Grand Officer” of the National Order of Merit of the French Republic and “Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy.”

This event is part of the Future-Proofing Europe Project, which is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.