Monday, June 30, 2008

Strasbourg, 23.06.2008 – “Governance, power and democracy'” was the key topic of the Third Summer University for Democracy, organised by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg from 30 June to 4 July.

The event brought together over 600 participants from schools of political studies in 16 European countries.
Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis will open the Summer University on Monday 30 June at 9:30 a.m. and Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic as expected gave an opening lecture.

Strasbourg Mayor Roland Ries, Parliamentary Assembly Vice President (PACE) Göran Lindblad and Meglena Kuneva, European Commissioner for Consumer Protection, were among the opening speakers.

The five-day session have included a series of themed conferences and workshops which were conducted and moderated by some 75 experts in democracy, international affairs, civil society and media as well as international personalities such as Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada, Egor Gaydar, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Stanislau Shushkevich, former Head of State of Belarus; and Ivan Vejvoda, Executive Director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy.

President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Jean-Paul Costa and PACE Vice-President Andreas Gross was participating in the closing session on Friday 4 July at which a final declaration was adopted.

The official launching of the European Association of the Schools of Political Studies was also held on 4 July with the participation of Catherine Lalumiere, former Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

The plenary sessions and thematic conferences were open to the press, as opposed to the workshops and meetings in the ECHR.

A press briefing was given by Jean-Louis Laurens, Council of Europe Political Affairs Director General, on Tuesday 24 June at 3 p.m.