The symposium, organized by Vytautas Magnus University, brought together European intellectuals to find the answer to the question – what do we mean when we say “Europe”.
The goal of the symposium was to rethink the idea of Europe in the context of the geopolitical, international, cultural, and mental changes of the recent decades.
Mr. Gitanas Nausėda, President of the Republic of Lithuania, opened the Symposium with a welcoming address to the audience. In particular, Mr. President underlined the importance of defending European values of freedom, the rule of law and human dignity in the face of current challenges confronting Europe today.
Video addresses were given by Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine.
The president’s panel was also attended by Mr. Egils Levits, President of the Republic of Latvia, Mr. Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, and Mr. Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania.
The main program included 3 thematic sessions:
- “Europe of Values, Ethics, and Morals”, moderated by Aurimas Švedas, historian, vice-director of Lithuanian Institute of History
- “Europe as a Peace Project”, moderated by Ineta Dabašinskienė, Head of Centre of Multilingualism and Intercultural Communication at Vytautas Magnus University
- “The Future of Europe”, moderated by Viktoras Bachmetjevas, philosopher, associate professor at Vytautas Magnus University
The thematic panel “Europe as a Peace Project” was attended by:
- Francis Martin O’Donnell, life member of the Institute of International and European Affairs
- Anatoli Mikhailov, philosopher, founding rector of European Humanities University
- Piotr Świtalski, former ambassador of European Union to Armenia
In his speech on The Idea of Europe in Crisis, Prof. Dr. Anatoli Mikhailov, referring to European intellectuals of past centuries Søren Kierkegaard, Paul Valéry, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Dmitry Merezhkovsky, shared his reflections on self-criticism and responsibility for the failure to defend peace and protect democracy, focused on the problem of theorizing disconnected from reality and expressed the hope that events like the symposium would provide practical lessons from the past and prevent the repetition of historical mistakes in the future.
The next day’s satellite program included a visit to the exhibition UKRAINE! UNMUTED and a thematic session “How to Show the Invisible” moderated by Oksana Forostyna, Europe’s Futures Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences.
The Symposium was a part of the “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022” program.
The Symposium was held under the patronage of President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda.
