FNF Participation in the 20th Annual Democracy Forum 2000

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom actively contributed to the 20th anniversary of the annual democracy “Forum 2000” in Prague (16-19 October) - a conference of global scale founded by Vaclav Havel. The anniversary edition was devoted to the courage to take responsibility and the crisis of democratic leadership. FNF is proud to have for many years supported this Forum, a pillar in the debates for liberal democracy.

On Sunday, October 16, the Forum was opened with a panel on “Where is Europe Heading? in the Embassy of Germany in the Czech Republic. Wolfgang Gerhardt, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of FNF Germany was among the high-ranking panel speakers. Alongside Gerhardt, the discussion on the future of Europe was entrusted to these thought leaders: Jerzy Buzek, Former Prime Minister and Former President of the European Parliament (Poland); Iveta Radicova, Former Prime Minister (Slovakia); Jan Svejnar, Columbia University (Czech Republic). 


Eastern Europe was high on the agenda during Forum 2000. There was one FNF panel on Ukraine and one panel on Russia, both moderated by FNF Project Directors from Ukraine and Russia, respectively. Oleksandra Drik, Head of the Board of Civic Lustration Committee from Ukraine, sat on the opening panel discussion on October 2017, devoted to the crisis of democratic leadership, alongside with Ralf Fücks, President of Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy, and Edward Lucas of the Economist. Iveta Radičová, the former Prime Minister of Slovakia, moderated the debate. The young activist from Ukraine shared that there is an urgent need for a revival in civil society, which is crucial for the emergence of new democratic leaders. 

Watch two short video interviews with Oleksadra Drik here and here.

A panel specifically on Ukraine later on the first day of Forum2000 explored the role of Ukraine's "new generation", which was organized by FNF. Here, the panelists were Oleksandra Drik and Yevhen Hlibovytsky, journalist, analyst, intellectual, lecturer and strategist from "pro.mova"; Štefan Füle, former EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, and Russian journalist and political commentator Konstantin von Eggert of "Dozhd TV". Miriam Kosmehl, Friedrich Naumann Foundation's Ukraine Project Director, moderated the discussion. 

Watch interviews with all panelists here.

The panel with focus on Russia and how to deal with the politics of disruption was moderated by FNF Project Director, Julius von Freytag-Loringhoven. Watch an interview with one of the panelists, Konstantin von Eggert, journalist and political commentator here.

FNF supported the launch of a new format, similar to TED talks, called Gallery Talk, devoted to the courage to take responsibility. Watch here the whole inspiring talk of the three exemplary cases of courage from Saudi Arabia, through Hungary to Russia here. 

Find a few interviews with one of the speakers, Vladimir Kara-Murza, National Coordinator Open Russia and opposition politician.