The Faculty of Law Hosts the AIACE-ES Annual Spring Meeting on the 40th Anniversary of Spain’s Accession to the European Union
On Tuesday, 12 May 2026, the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Barcelona hosted the Annual Spring Meeting of the Association of Former Officials of the Institutions of the European Communities in Spain (AIACE-ES) in Catalonia, within the framework of the collaboration agreement between AIACE-ES and the UAB. The event brought together more than thirty former European officials residing in Catalonia and took place entirely on the Bellaterra Campus.
An Anniversary, an Agreement, a Shared Project
The meeting had a double commemorative significance: the 40th anniversary of Spain’s accession to the European Economic Community in 1986, and the 40th anniversary of the incorporation of the first cohort of European officials from that same year. In this context, the collaboration between the UAB and AIACE-ES represents an intergenerational bridge that brings the experience and knowledge of these professionals closer to university students.
Programme of the Day
The event began in the morning with a guided visit to the Alba Synchrotron, led by Dr. Ramon Pascual, and continued with a celebratory lunch at the Restaurant of the Exe Campus Hotel.
In the afternoon, the academic session took place at the European Documentation Centre of the Faculty of Law and was structured as follows:
- Welcome and AIACE-ES current affairs, by Maruja Gutiérrez Díaz, President of AIACE-ES
- Institutional welcome, by Dr. Ricardo Esteban Legarreta, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the UAB
- Presentation of the European Documentation Centre, by Conxi Muñoz Ruiz, manager of the EDC
- Introduction of the speakers, by Alexandre Chechi Lang
- The Welfare State and Discontent in the European Union, lecture by Xavier Prats Monné, former Director-General for Health and Food Safety at the European Commission
- The Patronat Català Pro Europa, lecture by Carles Gasòliba Böhm, former Secretary-General of the Patronat Català Pro Europa and former Member of the European Parliament
- Question-and-answer session, initiated and moderated by Alexandre Chechi Lang
- Closing remarks, by Josep Maria de Dios, Director of the Institute for European Studies of the UAB, and Vicenç Pedret Cuscó, territorial delegate of AIACE-ES in Catalonia
The UAB–AIACE-ES Agreement in Action
The university team responsible for the agreement is composed of Professor Montserrat Pi, Professor Josep Maria de Dios, and Professor Cristina Blasi. Within the framework of this agreement, AIACE-ES members Rosa Aldea and Gereon Thiele have already delivered two joint seminars for students of the Master’s Degree in European Integration at the UAB: