Original plans for the State of Europe Forum in Zagreb on May 8 & 9, 2020 have been changed to an online forum, open to all. Registration not needed.
Seventy years to the hour after Schuman announced plans for the European Coal and Steel Community, we start the online State of Europe Forum: May 9, Saturday 18.00-19.30 CET
Robert Schuman’s three-minute speech in Paris, the Schuman Declaration, in which he proposed the supranational European Coal and Steel Community, was the first step towards the European Union. That speech laid the foundation of the European House in which today 500 million Europeans live together in peace, from 27 nations.
Moderated by Italian journalist and television producer, Salvatore Loria, the forum programme will cover three blocks of past, present and future, with videos and discussions.
1. 18.00: What is significant about May 9, the Schuman Declaration, and Schuman’s personal role? How can we celebrate that day? as a Together for Europe Day? European Family Day? Interdependence Day?
Salvatore will interview senior lecturer Margriet Krijtenburg (The Hague, NLD) and Jeff Fountain (Amsterdam, NLD), both of whom have written books about Schuman. Laura Mihaly (Cluj-Napoca, ROU) will tell about how she gets children involved in learning about the Schuman story. Dr Michael Murg of Together for Europe will bring a brief report of an international prayer meeting online that morning replacing planned activities in Graz, Austria.
2. 18.30: What is the state of Europe today suffering from the corona crisis, but also a crisis in democracy? Is 2020 the end of neo-liberalism just as 1989 saw the end of communism? What would Schuman say was missing from the European project today?
Alolz Peterle, former PM from Slovenia and MEP, will be joined by Wolfgang Palaver, professor from Innsbruck, Austria, and Davor Ivo Stier, former Croatian minister of European and Foreign Affairs for this lively discussion.
3. 19.00: What hope is there for Europe tomorrow? Can Schuman still offer us wisdom for the way forward, wisdom we have ignored in the past which has landed us in many problems?
Evert Van de Poll, no stranger to the forum, joins Victoria Martín de la Torre, another ‘Schuman’ author, from Madrid, and Margriet to discuss what wisdom Schuman has to offer us for the way forward..
Form a ‘watch party’ and join this forum on Saturday!
