The debate about the future of Europe is as old as the European Union itself. Since the beginning European federalists stood against those who want(ed) a Europe of sovereign nations:  “Bundeststaat versus Staatenbund”.

This year the EU officially launched a “Zukunftskonferenz” – a conference about its future.

The people of Europe are invited to participate in a discussion forum meant to give citizens a chance to shape how the European Union will look in five, 10 or 20 years from now.

Join us as Dr. Ulrike Guérot, Professor at Danube University Krems, Austria and Dr. Tibor Navracsics, Professor at Eötvös Loránd University, former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, former Minister of Administration and Justice and Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary and former EU Commissioner sit down with Andrássy University´s Dr. Heinrich Kreft to unfold their vision on the future of Europe and respond to your questions and comments. János Molnár of FES Budapest will kick off the event with some words of welcome.

We look forward to your participation and a lively discussion. Please register HERE.

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Guérot is head of the Department for European Policy and the Study of Democracy at Danube University Krems, Austria and founder of the European Democracy Lab in Berlin, a think-tank generating innovative ideas for Europe. Besides working and teaching at universities in Europe and the United States, Ulrike Guérot has worked at and directed several European research institutes and think tanks. Guérot received numerable honorable awards for her work, like the Paul Watzlawick Ehrenring or the Salzburger Landespreis für Zukunftsforschung. Her many books hit best-selling marks in Germany and have been widely translated and published throughout Europe.

Dr. Tibor Navracsics is a Hungarian politician, jurist and university teacher. He’s been teaching political science at Eötvös Loránd University since 1997. He served at the prime ministers’ office during the first term of Orbán administration and later, during the opposition era he was the leader of the Fidesz parliament group. In 2010 he became minister of justice and public administration. After the 2014’s election he became minister of foreign affairs. He couldn’t stay long in office because he became European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. After the Commission’s 5 years term he came back to Hungary and started working as government commissioner. He coordinates the European Capital of Culture 2023 Veszprém project but haven’t stopped teaching at the university. On the 1st of September 2020 he became the government commissioner of Northwest Hungarian Economic Development Zone.

Moderator:

Heinrich Kreft holds the Chair for Diplomacy II at Andrássy University Budapest and is Director of its Center for Diplomacy. He served as Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (2016– August 2020), as Senior Strategic Analyst and Deputy Head of Policy Planning (2004-2006) and in many other positions during his 35 year long career in the German Diplomatic Service. He was a visiting fellow at The Henry L Stimson Center, the Heritage Foundation, the Brookings Institutions, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Transatlantic Academy of the German Marshal Fund of the United States in Washington, D.C. He has published extensively on EU and international relations.