Danube Conference 2020 – Post-Corona in the Danube Region

Date/Time
November 11, 2020
10:00 - 13:15 CEST/CET


Danube Conference 2020 - Post-Corona in the Danube Region

                Under the patronage of ARGE Donauländer / Working Community of the Danube Regions

ARGE Donaulaender klein mit Text

Utopia or Dystopia – The Common European Future

Online Conference

The global Coronavirus pandemic put the world into a previously not imaginable vulnerable situation and might have given a first impression of further global crises to come. After its outbreak in China in 2019, the rapid spread of Covid-19 forced the World Health Organization (WHO) to state the global health emergency in January 2020, and to declare the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.

As a result, in Europe, 25 years after the implementation of the Schengen zone, national borders were closed, public institutions as well as the private economy shut down, and people urged to stay at home. In the Danube region the Corona crisis has not only revealed insufficiencies in national social, economic and health care systems, but also intensified deep asymmetries among EU and non-EU member states. Moreover, the call for a common approach to crisis management contradicted national interests, in particular the minilateralism of the Visegrád countries, while the EU integration of the Western Balkans again appeared to take a back seat, concretely the start of EU membership negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania.

The conference therefore aims to reflect on utopian visions of a common European future on the one hand and dystopian ones on the other. While the first, positively connoted scenario draws sustainable reforms in economic and social life, together with a new climate-oriented consciousness; the other, negatively connoted scenario criticises problematic long-lasting effects on human and civil rights, socio-economy and ecology, and finally on liberal democracy. The main question is which lessons learnt and recommendations can be taken out of the Corona crisis to develop realistic future prospects and strategies to improve the situation in the Danube region as part of a common Europe.

Date: November 11, 2020

Online event: IDM Vienna YouTube Channel

Language: English

Organisers:

Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM),

Danube University Krems

Co-operation partners:

BOKU – University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna,

Europa Forum Wachau

IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems

Under the patronage of ARGE Donauländer / Working Community of the Danube Regions

With the kind support of Federal State of Lower Austria

Programme

10.00 Welcome addresses

Mag. Friedrich FAULHAMMER, Rector of the Danube University Krems

Dr. Martin EICHTINGER, Minister of Housing, Labour and International Relations in the Government of Lower Austria, in representation of Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Governor of Lower Austria

Dr. Erhard BUSEK, Chairman of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), Vienna

10.15 Keynote

Prof. Dr. Dragan PROLE, Full Professor of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Paul Celan Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna (April – June 2010)

10.40 Panel 1: (Un)Expected Paradigm Changes in the Fields of Politics, Economy, Education, Health Care and Ecology

Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Hubert HASENAUER, Rector of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

Prof. Dr. Zdravko KAČIČ, Rector of the University of Maribor

Nataša NEDELJKOVIĆ, Head of the Section for International Cooperation, Provincial Secretariat for Regional Development, Interregional Cooperation and Local Self-Government, ARGE Donauländer Presidency, Novi Sad

Prof. Dr. Martin SELMAYR, Representative of the European Commission in Austria, Vienna

Julia WINKLER, MA, Staff secretary EU agenda Healthacross, Public Health Agency of the country of Lower Austria, Department for Healthcare

Moderation: Dr. Erhard BUSEK, Chairman of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), Vienna

11.50 Break

12.00 Panel 2: Possible Challenges and Chances for Youth, Culture, Media and Civil Society

Đuro BLANUŠA, MA, Secretary General of the Regional Youth Organisation Office (RYCO), Tirana

Prof. Adrian GUTA, Ph.D., Art Critic, Art Historian, and Curator, Professor at the National University of Arts, Bucharest

Dr. Daniela INGRUBER, Research Assistant – Research Lab Democracy and Society in Transition, Danube University Krems

Hedvig MORVAI, Director, Strategy and Europe, Erste Foundation, Vienna

Moderation: Nenad ŠEBEK, International Consultant for Media and Civil Society at Freelance, Belgrade/ Dubrovnik/ Mostar

13.10 Closing remarks

Mag. Friedrich FAULHAMMER, Rector of the Danube University Krems

Please find the PDF version of the programme (to download) below.

You can find the conference report here (in German).

  • Beginn: Mittwoch, 11. November 2020, 10:00 Uhr
  • Ende: Mittwoch, 11. November 2020, 13:15 Uhr
  • Ort: Livestream
  • Auskunft: Dr. Silvia Nadjivan
  • Auskunft E-Mail: s.nadjivan@idm.at
  • Anmeldung: ja
  • Anmeldung unter: idm@idm.at

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