One of the most important cities in Europe, home of the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament - Strasbourg, for the fourth time hosted more than 600 participants from 16 organizations – members of the „Schools of Political Studies“ network. The program lasted from 6th to 10th July 2009. and the main topic was „Global challenges to democracy“. The programme began with the opening address of Council of Europe’s Secretary General Mr. Terry Davis, who welcomed all participants and spoke about the challenges facing democracy, human rights and the European project.
Other speakers of opening ceremony were Catherine Lalumiere former Secretary-General of the Council of Europe and Roland Ries, mayor or Strasbourg.
The further programme consisted of three opening conferences: „The consequences of the crisis of the international financial system on the functioning of democratic political systems“ moderated by Rainer Steckhan, Chairman of the Administrative Council of the Council of Europe Development Bank and with following speakers: Kim Campbell, former Canadian Prime Minister and Bernard Boucault, Director of ENA-e. The other conference was entitled „The cisis of identities and international violence (organized crime, corruption, terrorism, etc) and the respect of fundamental rights and the rule of law“. The speakers were Thomas Hammarberg Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Boris Dubin, Head of Department for Socio-political Study, Lavada Center, Moscow and Wendelin Ettmayer, former Austrian Ambassador to Council of Europe. The third conference was entitled: „Political priorities, natural and technological challenges (shortage of natural and energy resources, demography, climate change)” and was moderated by Oliver Dulić, the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning of Republic of Serbia, with speakers: Mutsuyoshi Nishimura, Consultant at the Japanese cabinet responsible for climate change and Jean-Luis Laurens, Council of Europe Director General of Political Affairs.
The programme continued the following day with parallel workshops, chosen by participants according to their preferences.
Croatian participants attended a reception hosted by Croatian Embassador to the Council of Europe, in honor of Croatian President Stjepan Mesić, where, after the reception, the group has discussed the current political situation in Croatia with the eminent guest.
The Wednesday program began with four workshops, for different professions (media, politics, NGOs and business). President of Croatia Stjepan Mesić delivered key note speech and presented a brief overview of the development of democracy in Croatia.
Thursday programmed consisted of regional conferences and bilateral meetings. Academy for Political Development’s participants discussed the key issues and possibilities of cooperation in the region with their colleagues from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro.
Friday, the last of the official programme was reserved for bilateral meetings. In a bilateral meeting between the Croatian and Bosnian participants, young leaders have presented and discussed the important topics of civil society, media, political and economic development of their respective countries.
The final declaration was read out loud and distributed to the participants. Finally, Secretary General Terry Davis has given out diplomas for active participation to each of the School’s Directors, who have distributed them to participants.
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