On 4 December EUCOPAS carried out a public discussion event at the Institut français in Cologne. Discussants were the french journalist Gérard Foussier, Dr Anja Thomas, researcher at the "Centre de Recherches Internationales" (CERI) at Sciences Po Paris and Prof Dr Wolfgang Wessels of the "Centre for Turkey and European Union Studies" (CETEUS) at the University of Cologne. The debate was moderated by Mirja Schröder of the CETEUS.

The event focussed on the altered French role within the EU institutional framework. Central in the discussion were potential impulses of the new President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who already initiated profound discussions on the further development of the Eu by his keynote speech in September 2017. Furthermore, the participants took a look at future trends of the Franco-German tandem.