By means of a project entitled 'Europe’s new assignments' (ENEAS) and eleven planned conferences, AEI is proposing to analyse internal and external tasks facing the newly elected European institutions (Parliament, Commission). Furthermore, AEI will aim to elaborate practical advice for political players, in order to assist them in effectively implementing new EU tasks. The project consists of four thematic areas.The first group of conferences will discuss current challenges in further developing a competitive social market economy in the EU. The conferences will address strategies for a sustainable and secure energy supply in Europe while integrating responsibility at local level, potential for common educational standards in high schools for Europe’s future generations, comparing growth strategies in Europe and East Asia, and opportunities for bilateral EU external trade relations as compared to multilateral ones.The second group will analyse opportunities for and limits to solidarity and economic and social cohesion in the EU and its member societies through fiscal equalisation among states and regions, through internal migration of EU citizens and through macro-regional strategies, notably that for the Alps.The third group will focus on the protection of human rights within and outside the EU: on the one hand private and state players who are threatening EU citizens' data privacy, and on the other hand global furtherance of human rights as an instrument of EU foreign policy.Finally, the fourth group will discuss current cross-cutting topics in European policy: on the one hand, the growing politicisation in the EU as a step towards an ever closer union will be discussed, and on the other hand opportunities for and constraints in migration movements to Europe will be examined.