Central European Forum is an international venue organized by the non-profit organization

Project Forum {{Infobox company , name = Project Forum , , type = non-profit organisation, , foundation = (2006) , location_city = Bratislava , location_country = Slovakia , industry = non-profit , homepage www.salon.eu.sk Project Forum is a non-profit o ...

, held in Bratislava, Slovakia. Its main activity is concentrated around a panel discussion attended by expert speakers from all over the world, which is open to the general public. The first Central European Forum (2009) managed to gather 25 outstanding personalities including writers (as the Russian Viktor Erofeyev, German

Ingo Schulze Ingo Schulze (born 15 December 1962) is a German writer born in Dresden in former East Germany. He studied classical philology at the University of Jena for five years, and, until German reunification, was an assistant director (dramatic arts ...

, Austrian Robert Menasse, Hungarian

György Konrád György (George) Konrád (2 April 1933 – 13 September 2019) was a Hungarian novelist, pundit, essayist and sociologist known as an advocate of individual freedom. Life George Konrad was born in Berettyóújfalu, near Debrecen, into a ...

), historians (as the US Professors Timothy D. Snyder and

Marci Shore Marci Shore (born 1972) is an American associate professor of intellectual history at Yale University, where she specializes in the history of literary and political engagement with Marxism and phenomenology. Shore is the author of ''Caviar and ...

), political scientists (the French and Czech

Jacques Rupnik Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are ove ...

, Slovak Professor and Charter 77 spokesman Miroslav Kusý, British Professor Mary Kaldor), philosophers (the Hungarian Professor Ágnes Heller), NGO leaders (the US NGO-leader Wendy Luers), politicians (

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then ...

Karl zu Schwarzenberg Prince Karel of Schwarzenberg (, born 10 December 1937) is a Czech politician, former leader of the TOP 09 party and was its candidate for president of the Czech Republic in the 2013 election. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies (M ...

, the Belgian EEP President Wilfried Martens and the Slovak ex-finance minister and current EBRD vice-president

Brigita Schmögnerová Brigita Schmögnerová (born 17 November 1947) is a Slovak economist and politician. She was the Minister of Finance of Slovakia from 1998 to 2002 under Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda. She was appointed Executive Secretary of the United Nat ...

) and journalists (such as the polish journalist, historian and dissident

Adam Michnik Adam Michnik (; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former dissident, public intellectual, and editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper, ''Gazeta Wyborcza''. Reared in a family of committed communists, Michnik became an opponen ...

, the founder and editor-in-chief of

Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of " real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the ...

). Four main themes were discussed by the panelists under the general slogan “What happened to democracy?”: Where does the West begin?; Open society in crisis; Totalitarian Structures - A new lease of life; and Democracy fatigue. Stated main goal of Central European Forum 2009 was to use the anniversary of the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

to engage in a serious and open-minded debate that will have a lasting, positive effect on the intellectual discourse in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Secondary goals are to (a) connect and confront intellectuals from former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe with those coming from the West; in the face of approaching democracy fatigue and booming populism in the region, (b) promote values of democracy, human rights, tolerance and solidarity; and (c) formulate innovative ideas that would help Central Europe to overcome problems related to political issues and the global economic crisis. Complete video footage is available on the website. Central European Forum 2010 will take place in November 2010 in Bratislava. Its main theme will be "Holding on to our freedom".

References

{{Reflist https://web.archive.org/web/20100910094048/http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2009-11-13-newsitem-en.html

External links

Central European Forum Official website
Central Europe Politics of Europe European culture Historical events in Slovakia 2009 in Slovakia 2010 in Slovakia