Cēsis Castle Park, June 28th-29th 2019
Democracy needs rebranding – it is much more than democratic institutions and sets of written rules and laws. It is a culture that has to be nourished. A culture of individual freedom and responsibility, a culture of individual and collective action and acceptance of failures, a culture of intellectual curiosity and ability to use words instead of weapons to promote ones ideas. Debates, discussions and conversations have always been its incremental part. Therefore, we invite everyone to join the movement – reinvent democracy, make it live and fun again!
Latvian democracy festival – the Conversation festival LAMPA – was for the fifth time organised in a picturesque town of Cēsis (90 km from Riga) on June 28th-29th 2019, attracting a record-breaking 20,000+ visitors and thus becoming the largest summer festival in Latvia. This was also the richest festival to date in terms of content and number of events – up to 400 events, more than 1500 speakers, 38 stages and almost 720 hours of conversations.
One of the key conversations was held on the future of the European Union (“EU – less or more”), featuring Latvian Prim-Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, President-elect Egils Levits and MEP from the National Alliance Roberts Zīle. That was an open and frank discussion between Latvian leading decision-makers and festival attendees on the Union and its values.
Description of the event:
Since the beginning of the European integration project, Europeans have always debated its future as well as the extent of any further cooperation and collaboration. Indeed, the question of an ever-deeper Union has rarely left the meeting rooms in Brussels and public discourse in Europe. Although the dilemma of the European Union as a federation or a confederal union of states is still a topical question, the fundamentals of Europe’s value basis – the rule of law, individual freedoms and democracy (in its liberal sense) – have not been questioned.
After the EU Parliament elections in May 2019 and the changing compositions of national parliaments in a number of EU member states, discussions on political values in the EU will gain force. Should there be any common political values? Is political integration necessary at all?
One thing, however, is certain. Citizens of EU member states and their leaders will have to agree on a future path: should the EU be a union based on common liberal values or, rather, a project of economic integration of national states? These are the questions we want to discuss and debate in this conversation.
Live poll of the attendees using sli.do:
EU decisions have a positive impact on my life (294 votes):
Yes: 77%
No: 5%
I do not know: 18%
Can you influence the decision-making process in the EU? (291 votes)
Not so sure: 52%
Sure: 32%
Not at all: 16%
Audience: As it was an open-air festival, people could join and leave any time. Therefore, the number was not constant and changing all the time – at the beginning there were up to 350 participants, in the end – more than 400. Number of views of the video record: 184 unique views. No data is available about the live stream.
You can find video record of the discussion here.
EU SOLUTIONS LAB 