Central European Perspectives on the Future of Europe

Part I. Slovakia, the Visegrad Four and the European Union

The manifold crises that have affected the European Union in the past ten years have strained the ambition of an ever-closer Union playing a leading role in global politics. After the economic and migration crises, Brexit and rising instability in the EU’s neighbourhood, the EU is now confronted with an unprecedented pandemic and the return of geopolitical tensions. The need for concerted action guided by a common vision is as pressing as ever. The Conference on the Future of Europe, to be launched by the end of 2020, is accordingly intended to reinforce the EU in its plurality of perspectives.

To address these issues, Institut Montaigne and the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe (ÖFZ/CFA) are co organizing a series of four Webinars between December 2020 and February 2021.

The aim of this series is to shed light on perspectives from Central Europe, to examine more specifically how the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia view the role of the Visegrad Four in tomorrow’s Europe, and how their visions for the future of Europe intersect with French and Austrian perspectives in a post-pandemic world.

The first webinar will be devoted to the Slovakian point of view and will assess the impact of the pandemic on EU cohesion and Slovakia's Expectations for the Future of Europe Conference. It will also address the pressing question of the respect of rule of law and its link to the EU budget and the European Recovery Fund.

On this occasion, we will welcome:

• David Cvach, Director for European Affairs, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris,
• Stefan Lehne, Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Europe, Brussels,
• Tomáš Strazay, Director of the Research Center, Slovak Foreign Policy Association, Bratislava.

Discussions will be introduced by Hans Dietmar Schweisgut, Secretary General, Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe, Vienna, and moderated by Vladislava Gubalova, Future of Europe Programme, GLOBSEC Policy Institute, Bratislava.

Please register in advance by using this link.

Photo Copyright: VLADIMIR SIMICEK / AFP