Friday, June 15, 2007
Strasbourg, 14.06.2007 – Over 600 participants from Schools of political studies in 15 European countries will gather in Strasbourg from 2 to 6 July for the second Summer University for Democracy, organised by the Council of Europe.
Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis will open the Summer University, whose theme is “Projects for Europe,” on Monday 2 July at 9:30 a.m. and Serbian Boris Tadic is expected to give an opening lecture. Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg, Parliamentary Assembly Vice President Göran Lindblad and Philippe Richert, Vice-Chairman of the French Senate, count among speakers at the opening.
The five-day session (2-6 July) will include a series of themed conferences and workshops to be conducted by leading international personalities such as George Soros, Chairman of the Open Society Foundation; and Ivan Vejvoda, Executive Director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy.
Belarus opposition leader Alexandre Milinkevich will participate in the closing session on Friday 6 July alongside Strasbourg Mayor Fabienne Keller, as well as Oliver Dulic, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia. A final declaration will be adopted at the end of the ceremony.
A special round table on Thursday 5 July will examine the question 50 years after the Treaties of Rome: where is the European project ? Invited participants include Jean-Dominique Giuliani, president of the Robert Schuman Foundation; Daniel Tarschys, former Secretary General of the Council of Europe; Adrian Severin, European MEP; Deputy Prime Minister Gabriela Konevska-Trajkovska of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and minister in charge of European affairs.
The four plenary sessions and thematic conferences are open to the press, as opposed to the workshops.
A press briefing will be given by Jean-Louis Laurens, Council of Europe political affairs Director General, on Tuesday 19 June at 11 a.m. (room 17, ground floor of the Palais de l’Europe, behind the news kiosk near the ATM machine).
