‘‘So on a day when newcomers appear.
Let it be a homecoming and let us speak.
The unstrange word, as it behoves us here,
Move lips, move minds and make new meanings flare..’’
Seamus Heaney, Beacons at Bealtaine
On the 10th anniversary of our Irish Speaker Series, the CEU Democracy Institute, in partnership with the Embassy of Ireland to Hungary, cordially invites you to a lecture by Pat Cox, former President of the European Parliament.
If you would like to attend, please register here.
As President of the European Parliament from 2002 to 2004, Pat Cox played a leading role in ‘‘the great enlargement’’ that saw Hungary and nine other states join the European Union on 1 May 2004. Finalised during Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU, the historic occasion was celebrated as ‘‘the Day of the Welcomes’’ in Dublin, with Hungary and other new members honoured at a ceremony in the Phoenix Park, commemorated in a poem by Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney.
Two decades later, as we mark the anniversary of that ‘‘homecoming’’, the debate on enlargement has taken on a new political urgency, with Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia joining the states of the Western Balkans in seeking membership. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has underscored the geopolitical imperative for enlargement. But the reforms required of both candidate countries and the EU institutions themselves make the path politically uncertain.
The issue is set to be a focus of Hungary’s forthcoming Presidency of the EU. It is also inextricably tied to debate over rule of law and democratic backsliding in Hungary and other EU member states.
In this, the tenth anniversary of CEU’s Irish Speaker Series, Pat Cox will recall the great enlargement two decades ago and consider the lessons it holds for the EU today. Reflecting on the future of EU enlargement and democracy, the former EP President will draw on his ongoing engagement in Ukraine to trace a path to a wider, better functioning Europe.
After his keynote, Mr Cox will be joined by former European Commissioner and Professor Emeritus at Central European University Péter Balázs and Program Director of the CEU Democracy Institute Leadership Academy Zsuzsanna Szelényi to discuss these and related issues, followed by a drinks’ reception hosted by the Embassy of Ireland.
Please join us at CEU – a building designed by Irish architects – to mark the anniversary of Hungary’s EU accession and to consider the future architecture of our shared Union.
Speaker:
Pat Cox is an Irish politician, journalist, presenter, academic, and former President of the European Parliament (2002-2004). First elected to the European Parliament in 1989, he served for three terms until 2004, leading the ELDR group from 1998-2001, the first Irish national to chair a political group in the institution. After leaving the European Parliament, he presided over European Movement International between 2005 and 2011 and, alongside the former Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, was a member of the special European Parliament mission to Ukraine in 2012-2013. He is currently the Coordinator of the EU project for the transport corridor from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean and contributes to a range of European organisations, including the Institute for International and European Affairs, the Jean Monnet Foundation for European and the European Investment Bank. He has been widely honoured for his continuing contributions to EU enlargement and the promotion of EU democratization.
Program:
- Welcome remarks from CEU: Laszlo Kontler, CEU’s Pro-Rector for Budapest
- Welcome remarks from Embassy of Ireland to Hungary: Ambassador Ragnar Almqvist
- Recitation of ‘‘Beacons at Bealtaine’’ (new Hungarian Translation)
- Lecture by Pat Cox
- Panel discussion
- Pat Cox
- Péter Balázs, former European Commissioner; Professor Emeritus, CEU
- Zsuzsanna Szelényi, Program Director, CEU Democracy Institute Leadership Academy
- Zoltán Ranschburg, Senior Analyst, Republikon Institute (moderator)
- Music
- Reception
The event will be livestreamed here.
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