Work in progress above the hills of Florence to build the future of Europe

Rome, 27th April 2011 – Even though many people do not know, above the hills of Florence studies and works are being carried out to build the Europe of tomorrow. This thanks to the European University Institute (EUI), an institution financed by 20 member states of the European Union and by the EU itself, having its offices at the Badia Fiesolana of San Domenico. The study centre on social sciences was founded in 1972 by the member states of the then European Community with the purpose of following PhD courses of European relevance.

The Institute works through its four departments: History and Civilization, Economics, Law, and Political and Social Sciences, together with a Research Centre of European Studies named Robert Schuman Centre. It is attended by about 600 researchers mainly coming from countries of the European Union but also from other geographical areas, and obtaining very high level PhDs. There are 48 teachers (coming from 16 different countries), 10 of which are Italian. Every year, 160 newly-graduated people out of 1,500 applicants are selected to attend the PhD course at the European University Institute. PhD obtained at the EUI represents a highly prestigious qualification, considering that some Departments of the EUI rank among the first in the academic rankings of the related disciplines. The Institute also manages the Historical Archives of the European Union and this proves that if a person wants to study the EU, he or she has to come to Florence.
Over the years, many important people have visited the Institute, situated above the hills of Florence. From 1999 on, the President Bill Clinton, the Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the President Romano Prodi, the Secretary-General of the Council of the EU Javier  Solana, the President of the European Parliament Pat Cox, the Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, prince Charles, the Polish President Aleksandr Kwasniewski and finally the Chairman of the European Convention Valery Giscard d’Estaing visited the Institute.
All the information is available on the website www.eui.eu