FIR hosted the Conference about the Future of the EU

On Monday, December 6th, our university hosted a conference in cooperation with the Centre of European Studies at FIR, European Commission Representation in the Czech Republic, EU Parliament Office of the Czech Republic, EUROSKOP and Government Office of the Czech Republic. There were many EU and Czech representatives present together with students from various Czech universities who discussed the future of Europe during the two-panel debate under the Conference about the Future of Europe. In this project, inhabitants of member states can discuss, how should Europe look like to be able to react to the necessities of its citizens. These proposals will serve as a base for the debate in European Institutions.

The first part of the event was about evaluating current political results of the Conference in the Czech Republic. The main speakers of the morning panel were: Věra Jourová, the deputy chairwoman of European Commission, Dita Charanzová, the deputy chairwoman of European Parliament and Milena Hrdinková, the secretary for the European matters. Věra Jourová assessed the ongoing Conference positively, especially in the context of urgency to adjust the platform to the online environment due to the Covid pandemic being still an issue globally. Dita Charanzová added that European issues should be discussed more often than just during the upcoming elections to the European Parliament and summarized that the most important events are still ahead of us. Milena Hrdinková comments that the purpose of the Conference is mainly the calibration of Brussels visions with the perception of all EU inhabitants.

The second part of the event was named “The Future of the Europe. What do Czechs think?” where first spoke Mr. Igor Blahušiak, the director of the Department of Communication about the European matters at the Government Office of the Czech Republic. He covered the results of regional debates in Eurocentres. The discussed topics of the project were EU in the world, mainly in the context of the peace promotion at the national borders and the necessity to invest into innovations and digital economy to remain competitive.

After that, two high school students held a speech to accent the necessity of young voices from the project “Decide about Europe!”. Karolína Pěšalová spoke about the climate problems and perception of the EU in the eyes of high school students, Lucie Soukalová was more focused on the democracy topics and EU relationships with other global superpowers.

The last part of the conference was dedicated to the future of Europe, as its name indicated: “What´s next? Czechia and Europe in the near and distant future”. The invitation was accepted by guests Jana Soukupová, the founder of Youth, Speak Up initiative, Martin Buchtík, the sociologist and the director of STEM and Alice Krutilová, the director of the Department for the Chairmanship of Czechia in the Council of the EU, Government Office of the Czech Republic.

Whoever can lead the debate that will contribute to the future of the EU.

If we understand the system, there will be no evil Brussels. We will understand that we are Brussels.

Milena Hrdinková, the secretary for the European matters

Recipes of Young for the Future of Europe

The following discussion panel “Recipes of Young for the Future of Europe” enabled students from various Czech universities to participate in the debate about the EU future. On its possible development commented Milena Hrdinková and Štěpán Pech, who also emphasized the urgency to be actively interested in the EU topics: “Whoever can lead the debate that will contribute to the future of the EU.”, comments Milena Hrdinková.

Student discussion

Students questions were mainly targeted to the insufficient education of Czech citizens about EU and low participation in the elections to the EU Parliament. FIR has had two its student representatives on the conference, that were also actively contributing to the discussion: Johanka Paťhová, the current president of the student club European Horizons was interested to hear the response of the speakers about the apathy of Czech citizens towards the EU and the complexity and complicatedness of its institutions. Both guests agreed on the fact that certain complexity is inevitable due to the fact there are 27 member states, each with slightly different background and visions.

Student discussion

Another FIR student Jindřich Slunečko proposed an idea how to fight with disinformation about the European union through introducing the public television canal that would share news right from Brussels. Guests appreciated the thaught, although they pointed out some difficulties that could arise when trying to realize the project. The speaker then asked all students whether they would watch the EU television canal, if there was any. Students suggested the television aims rather at the older generation, but in the end they all agreed they would appreciate a new source of valid EU information no matter the platform used when spreading it.

On behalf of the Faculty of International Relations we would like to thank all participants: speakers, students, and those, who were making sure the whole event is organized smoothly. You can watch the record of the morning part and following panel on the YouTube channel of the faculty. (Note: The event was held in the Czech language.)

FIR hosted the Conference about the Future of the EU