Three students represented the College at the World Forum for Democracy

The College of Europe was represented at the World Forum for Democracy at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg last week. Students of the European Political and Administrative Studies Department, Paul PATRON and Filipa PERESTRELLO, and Ghazi MABROUK student of the European Interdisciplinary Studies Department attended the three-day event (18-20 Nov) as official rapporteurs. 

This year’s theme surrounded issues regarding ‘Freedom vs Control: For a democratic response’. The main topics in the plenary sessions dealt with the perception of fear in light of recent terror attacks, encryption in light of increased surveillance, and freedom of expression in light of media restrictions and the effect of this on democracy. 

Eminent high-level speakers included the French Minister of State for European Affairs, Mr Harlem DESIR; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2011, Ms Tawakkol KARMAN; Secretary General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Ms Michaelle JEAN; the President of Colombia (1998-2002), Mr Andrés PASTRANA; UK Member of the House of Lords, Lord John ALDERICE, among others.

Filipa PERESTRELLO and Paul PATRON also participated in Labs regarding digital matters, in particular ‘Network responses’ and ‘Who is controlling the internet?.’ The outcomes were shared with other rapporteurs at the end of the sessions, contributing to the final report of the Forum. 

At the closing session the Council of Europe announced that the winner of its Democracy Innovation Award, after presentations from the three finalists followed by a vote, was the Swedish initiative More Than One Story: a powerful card game building bridges between people of all ages, backgrounds and cultures.

The Forum took place after a satellite event organized by the European General Studies Programme of the College of Europe, in association with the World Forum of Democracy, where – through a roundtable debate – Professor BENOIT-ROHMER, Professor HAARSCHER, and Professor TUÑÓN NAVARRO addressed some of these issues followed by a discussion with students.