European Parliament to mark the International Day of Democracy 

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The conference “EU leadership for democracy”, celebrating the International Day of Democracy, will be held in the European Parliament, in Brussels, on 18 September.

In partnership with a number of NGOs (the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), the European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP), the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), the Office of International IDEA to the European Union), the European Commission and the European External Action Service, participants will discuss the current challenges facing democracies, the role of social media in politics and ways to advance democracy through female leadership and engagement.

The Democracy Day participants include leaders and practitioners working in the field of democracy support in Brussels and internationally, EU policy makers, civil society organisations, academics, researchers, and interested citizens.

Programme

The conference will open with a video message from EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini at 10.00, to be followed by a keynote speech by Stavros Lambrinidis, European Union Special Representative for Human Rights.

The morning session will focus on the EU’s role in supporting democracy worldwide, the internal and external challenges facing the EU’s leadership and ways to be more inclusive to citizens, thus countering the populist discourse.

The afternoon session will be structured around four themes:

  • Technology and the changing public sphere
  • Political leadership for engagement
  • Advancing democracy through female leadership
  • The state and the future of democracy

The conference will be wrapped up by former MEPs Veronique de Keyser and Edward McMillan-Scott.

The conference will take place in Parliament’s ASP 5G-3 from 10.00 to 17.00, with some workshops in ASP 5G-2.

A detailed programme of the event is available here.

You can follow it live here.

Twitter: #DemocracyDay #EU4Democracy

Practical information for journalists

Journalists that already hold permanent media accreditation with the European Parliament will be able to access the event. For those not holding permanent media accreditation, requests to attend the conference can be sent to media.accreditation@ep.europa.eu. Video and photo journalists should get special accreditation (“T-badge”) to be allowed to use their cameras during the conference.