In response to the numerous recent reports on the violation of privacy and data protec-tion, a number of proposals are being discussed: EU data protection legislation should apply to non-EU entities, German internet service providers have offered an internet "Made in Germany", and calls for a "European Internet" have become increasingly vocal in France and Germany. Hence, "Independence Day: Time for a European Internet?“ was chosen as the motto for the international Conference CEE eGov & eDem Days 2015 (Central and Eastern European eGovernment and eDemocracy Days 2015) from 7-8 May 2015. The conference consisted of more than 20 sessions and workshops which were hosted by the National University of Public Service in Budapest (NKE). A panel discus-sion was held at Andrássy University Budapest (AUB), where prominent panelists dis-cussed whether it is "Time for a European Internet?".

More than 120 participants, including leading academics of a number of disciplines and practitioners of political and public administration came together to exchange their research projects, positions and experiences. In the numerous sessions and workshops of the conference, the discussions centered around both the motto of the conference and the theoretical and applied aspects of both eGovernment and eDemocracy. The sessions of the first day dealt with "Citizen Information", "Open Data" as well as "eGovernment and EU". At the same time, an official workshop of the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG) of the Council of Europe took place. The workshop was organized by Dr. Alexander Balthasar, Head of the Institute of State Organization and Administrative Reform of the Austrian Federal Chancellery. Discussions centered around e-tools in citizen participation and enabled an exchange of knowledge and experience between leading academics and official representatives of the Council of Europe Member States.

A series of sessions chaired by Prof. Dr. Johannes W. Pichler (Professor of European Law at the Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Austria and Head of the Austrian Institute for European Legal Policy in Salzburg) dealt with "Participatory Democracy in the EU", focusing in particular on Article 11 TEU. Prof. Dr. Pichler also chaired a workshop entitled "The Dialogue on Values and Culture under Article 17 (3) TFEU" which dealt with the fundamental values of the European Union and the dialogue on these values. The organizing universities of Budapest (AUB and NKE) and the University of Public Administration and Finance Ludwigsburg held a special session enabling students to exchange their research projects and results within the framework of an international scientific conference.

The panel discussion mentioned above was chaired by Mr. Blaž Golob, Director of the GoForeSight Institute, Slovenia. Mr. Frederick Richter (President of the Federal Data Protection Foundation of Germany) stated in his introductory speech that, before one can answer whether it is "Time for a European Internet?", it has to be clarified what this European Internet would signify. He did not share the view that this European Internet is a technical-infrastructural issue, but rather the political-legal dimension of regulation. This view was strongly supported by the other panelists. Claudia Luciani (Directorate General for Democracy within the Secretariat General of the Council of Europe) noted that this European Internet cannot be the "Firewall of Europe", but must instead be a guarantee for privacy and the protection of personal data. Mr. Péter Siklósi (Deputy Secretary of Defense, Hungary) and Mr. Friedhelm Frischenschlager (former Minister of Defense, Austria and former MEP) agreed with this argument. Mr. Frischenschlager called for a common European IT strategy to counter threats such as cyber warfare. Mr. Siklósi insisted that the EU and the USA must work together on this issue. In his view, any separation of the EU and the USA does not constitute an appropriate solution. For instance, cyber-attacks originating from Russian or Chinese soil or even the recruitment of jihadi fighters are global phenomena which Western democracies can only counter together. "Both USA and Europe are tied together on this", Mr. Siklósi summarized. Mrs. Claudia Luciani praised the fundamental values of democracy and the European Charter of Human Rights, which should not be abandoned.

The second day of the conference focused on interdisciplinary and international exchange between theory and practice on "eGovernment", "Cyber Security", "eEducation" and the European Citizens’ Initiative. Among others, AUB participated in the session "Age and the Digital Divide" where Janina Apostolou and Csilla Szentiványi presented "(Re-)Activating senior citizens – the potential of online job portals in Hungary". During the closing session of the conference, the Best Paper Awards were announced. Prof. Dr. Hiroko Kudo (Bocconi University Milan, Italy) won the theoretical award for her contribution on "Reinventing Panopticon to Reconsider the Safety and Security vs. Privacy Issue: Ontological approach to examine surveillance". The award for the best empirical paper went to Prof. Heungsuk Choi and Kyungsoo Lee of Korea University Seoul for their work entitled "The Efficacy of e-Participation and Mobilization of Bias: A South Korean experience?". The audience award went to Matija Miloš of the University of Rijeka, Croatia, for his contribution on "Functions and perspectives of the right to be forgotten by a search engine".

The Central and Eastern European eDemocracy and eGovernment Days 2015 were organized by the Austrian Federal Chancellery, the GoForeSight Institute (Slovenia), the University of Public Administration and Finance Ludwigsburg, the National University of Public Service Budapest, the Austrian Computer Society, the Austrian Institute for European Legal Policy and Andrássy University Budapest. The organizers owe much to the sponsors and partners of the conference, namely the Budapest Office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the Austrian Cultural Forum Budapest (both cooperation partners) and the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung and Austrian Airlines (Sponsors). The successful cooperation and the CEE eGov & eDem Days will be continued in 2016. The next CEE eGov & eDem Days will be held May 12-13, 2016 and will focus on "Multi-Level-eGovernance" – save the date!

Please find the audio recording of the panel discussion here.

Tim Kraski (Andrássy University Budapest)

Translation to English: Robert Müller-Török / David Fenner

(University of Public Administration and Finance Ludwigsburg)

Photos: Balázs Szecsődi