From 30. June to 4. July 2008, the Council of Europe has successfully organized the  Third Summer University for Democracy in Strasbourg. More than 600 participants from 16 countries, from the organizations of „The Schools of Political Studies“ network have come together to discuss governance, power and democracy and its many aspects.

The programme began with the opening address of Council of Europe’s Secretary General Mr. Terry Davis, who welcomed all participants and addressed the issues of democracy, human rights and the European project.

The speakers included Mr. Filip Vujanović, president of  Montenegro,  Roland Ries, mayor or Strasbourg, Pjer Sjorgen, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the Council of Europe, Goran Lindblad, Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and  Meglena Kuneva, European Commissioner for Consumer Protection, European Commission.  The introductory lecture on the subject matter of governance was given by Mary Caldor, director of Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics. Upon questions and comments by participants, the family photo was taken in front of the CoE building.

The further programme contained four workshops:

• „Governance: a new instrument in politics?“  with lecturers Christian Saves, Deputy Academic Director, Ecole Nationale d’Administration  and Gert Rudiger Wegmarshaus, Director of EuroCollege, Tartu University

• „Governance and European integration“ with lecturers  Pierre Defriagne, Executive Director of the Madariaga, College of Europe Foundation and  Nikolay Mladenov, Member of the European Parliament, Bulgaria

• „Government and democracy - are they compatible?“ with lecturers Antonela Valmorbida, Director of the Association of the Local Democracy Agencies, Vicenza, Harald Wydra, Lecturer in Russian and Eastern European Politics, University of Cambridge  and Michael Muller, Representative of the INGO Service, Conference of INGOs, Council of Europe

• „Governance and the interaction of public and private actors“ with lecturers  Elisabeth Lulin, President of the Institute Aspen France and  Alexander Seger, Head of the Economic Crime Division, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs, Council of Europe

The second SUDS day started with two conferences:  „Media, power and democracy“, moderated by Andrew McIntosh, Member of the House of Lords and Rapporteur on Media Freedom of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, with speakers: Veran Matić, Chief Executive Officer of B92, Belgrade, Veton Surroi, political analyst and editor of “Koha Ditore” from Kosovo, Žarko Puhovski, Lecturer, University of Zagreb, Daniel Riot, Director of the “RELATIO-europe” webzine from Strasbourg and Jack Hanning, former Director of External Relations, Council of Europe, Representative of the European Movement International to the Council of Europe

The other conference was entitled „Europe and its neighbours“, moderated by François– Gilles Le Theule, Director of the Centre for European Studies of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, with lecturers The Right Honourable  Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada, Hans – Peter Furrer, former Director General of Political Affairs of the Council of Europe and Anna Carin Krokstade, Directorate General for External Relations, European Commission.

The afternoon programme was composed 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. The opening lecturers were delivered by  Blagoj Zašov, Ambassador, State Counsellor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Skopje, Veton Surroi, Hido Biščević, Secretary General of the Regional Co-operation Council for South-East Europe, Sarajevo and Hedvig Horvat, Director of the European Fund for the Balkans, Belgrade.

The third day  started with the round table  “Governance and globalization“, moderated by Bernard Boucault, Executive Director of the Ecole Nationale        d’Administration, with speakers Egor Gaydar, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Aiko Doden, journalist, NHK TV, Tokyo and  Steven Ekovich, Professor at the American University of Paris.  In the afternoon Croatian participants, joined by their Bosnian colleagues made the official visit to the European Court for Human Rights where they were welcomed by Croatian lawyer Ms Elica Grdinić,  who has explained the work of the Court and presented most notable cases and judgments.

Thursday’s programme started with following workshops:

• “Governance, representative systems and the rule of law“, with speakers Violaine de Villemeur, Deputy Director of the Democratic GovernanceDivision, French  Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and  Giovanni di Stasi, Head of the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform, Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs, Council of Europe.
  
  
• “Governance and economic power“, with speakers Ante Čičin – Šain, former Governor of the Central Bank, Zagreb i Shpend Ahmeti, Executive Director, Institute for Advanced Studies, Pristina.
  
  
• ”Good governance – cause or an effect of crisis of  politics“, with speakers Ivan Vejvoda, Executive Director of the “Balkan Trust for Democracy”, Belgrade and Jean Howiller, Chief of cabinet of the President of the Conseil Général du Bas-Rhin, Strasbourg
  
  
• “From good governance to good government“ with speakers Wendellin Ettmayer, Permanent Representative of Austria to the Council of Europe , Frank Prochaska, Lecturer, Colorado Technical University and Owen Masters, former Member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

In a bilateral meeting between the Croatian and Bosnian Academy, young leaders have presented and discussed the important topics of civil society development, media, political and economic development of both countries.         

The closing session was conducted Friday morning, and participants were addressed by Jean-Paul Costa, President of the European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe and  Andreas Gross, Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Chairman of the Committee on Rules of Procedures and Immunities, Switzerland. Rapporteurs from the working sessions presented the main topics discussed, comments and conclusions that were made during this working week. The final declaration was read out loud and distributed to the participants.  Finally, General Secretary Terry Davis has given out diplomas of active participation.  Ms Catherine Lalumiere has announced the launching of the European Association of the Schools of Political Studies, and upon the closing remarks of Mr. Davis, the SUDS 2008. was officially closed, only to reopen its doors to the new generation of participants in 2009.