With every spring, since 2018, comes a new edition of the Supranational Democracy Dialogue, an event of its kind bringing together academicians, civil society leaders, international officials and thinkers to discuss democratic solutions to issues bigger than States: European and Global. The seventh edition will be in Brindisi (Italy) on April 29-30.

This year it is different. I would love to say that every year is different, but this time it is more. We swim against the stream. We imagine new democratic spaces while the existing ones are falling apart.

Is this a crisis of the existing world to open up opportunities for a new one to emerge? Or is this just a giant step back in the progression we call progress? The hope is for the former, the gut feeling (let’s call it fear), is for the latter.

This could be the reason for a seventh edition exceptionally crowded and high-profile: we fear to lose what democracy we have, while discussing how to improve it. We are motivated to defend the very idea that we need democracy and an international space where dialogue is the rule and not the exception. It is time to show up and stand up for what we really believe in. So many illustrious colleagues and interesting contributors applied to join us in Brindisi (Italy), for a seventh edition focused on citizenship and values. And many young people showed an interest in attending, I suppose for the same reason.

This is the program. Whoever wishes to join is warmly invited to do so. It is for free, but we just need a registration. Alternatively, you can follow via streaming. A second, long due, novelty is that a new Association has been born. The Association for Supranational Democracy aims to build on the existing platform of committed individuals who support the event in many ways, locally as well as on a global level. It is open for applications at info@supranationaldemocracy.net.

Brindisi, Sala Conferenze dell’Autorità Portuale, April 29-30, 2025

APRIL 29, 2025 – Europe

I. – European Citizenship, Identity and Values

10,00 – Institutional Greetings

10,30 – First Panel

Chair: Susanna Cafaro

Keynote Speech

Domènec Ruiz Devesa, Union of European Federalists – Europe at a Turning Point

Maaike Geuens, Open University of the Netherlands – Constitutional Identity, Democratic Disconnect, EU institutions, Sovereignty, and Integration

Jean-Christophe Barbato, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – Academic Freedom and Democracy in European Union Law

Francesca Salvatore and Antonio Caso, Atlantic-Mediterranean Relations Study Center (CESRAM, Lecce) – Public History as a Strategic Resource for European Citizenship, Identity, and Values

Fabienne Péraldi Leneuf, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – The Independence of the Judiciary as an Aspect of Respect for the Rule of Law: Exporting the European Model

Esra Akgemci, Selcuk University (Turkey) – Rethinking the EU’s Role in Promoting Peace, Human Rights, and Democracy Amid Anti-Gender Politics and Right-Wing Populism

Sara Poli, Università di Pisa – Citizenship by Investment Programs: Constraints and Conditions Imposed by Treaty Provisions on the European Citizenship and on CFSP

Bledar Kurti, University “Aleksandër Moisiu” Durres – Today’s Challenges of European Citizenship, Identity and Values

13,30 – Light Lunch

II. – The European Union in a Changing World

14,30 – Second Panel

Chair: Claudia Morini

Expert Speech

Antonio Parenti, European Commission – The EU’s Preparedness in Crises: a New Paradigm?

Ana Bojinović Fenko and Julija Brsakoska Bazerkoska, Ljubjana University – European Union’s Contributions in Addressing the Challenges of the Changing World Order: Analysis of EU’s Actorness in the Fields of Conflict Resolution, Digital Sovereignty and Trade

Ingrid Kiessling R., Gabriela Mistral University (Chile) – The Strategic Alliance between the European Union and Latin America: Protection of Democracy and Human Rights in the Context of Global Instability

Eirikur Bergmann, Bifrost University (Iceland) – Europe’s Security Architecture in an Age of Transactional Diplomacy

15,30 – Coffee Break

Mohamed Shokry, Università del Salento – The European Union’s Migration Governance as a Laboratory in a Changing World

Oleksiy Kandyuk, University of Konstanz – Transatlantic Shift, Strategic Autonomy and Ukraine

Catherine Vieilledent, UEF Group Europe – The Role of the EU in a Post Multilateral World

Expert Speech

Maria D’Aprile & Co., UNGSC Brindisi – UNGSC as a Lab of the UN 2.0

18,00 – Open Debate

APRIL 30, 2025 – World

III. – Values and Tools for a New World Order

10,00 – Institutional Greetings

Fabio Pollice, Rector of Università del Salento

10,15 – First Panel

Chair: Silvia Solidoro

Keynote Speech

Jan Wouters, Leuven University – Europe and the World: Adapting to a Changing Landscape

Jeffrey Glausiusz, Pax Orbis (Israel) – Time to Rebuild

Brian T. Schmitt, CY Cergy Paris University – Democracy as a Set of Normative Social Relationships: the IAPD Framework

Wolfgang Pape, Center for United Nations Constitutional Research (Brussels) – Interpopularity Beyond National Borders

Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, newDemocracy Foundation (Australia) – An Antidote to Identity Politics and Nationalistic Rhetoric

Inspirational Talk

Joe Weston, Author (US-Netherlands) – Fierce Civility. A Practical Pathway to Transformational Governance

13,00 – Light Lunch

IV – A World in Transition

14,00 – Second Panel

Chair: Saverio Di Benedetto

Sérgio Barbosa Dos Santos Silva, Université de Gènève – On the Rise of AI Literacies

Nadia Perrone, Engineering – Ingegneria Informatica (Lecce) – The EU AI Act: How the European Union Fosters the Artificial Intelligence Development while Addressing its Ethical and Legal Implications

Troy Davis, World Citizen Foundation (Strasbourg) – The Schuman Method Applied to Global Climate Change: the World Carbon Community

Stefania Attolini, Université Catholique de Lyon – AI for the Environment: Earth Monitoring Evolutions and Legal Issues

Gabriele Rogoli, Università Del Salento – EU Leaders 2030. The New Paradigm of the Green and Digital Transition

Benedetto Rollo, Università del Salento – “Feel Free to Vent Your Fury Here”. How Corporations Use Online Activism to Influence Policymaking

Concluding Remarks

Susanna Cafaro, Università del Salento

16,00 – Coffee Break

16,30 – The Discussion Corner

1. EU Culture and Values: Raising Awareness – Facilitators: Andrea Rubino, Jacopo Lillo and Elisabetta Marzo
2. EU Strategic Autonomy and Defense: Narratives and Public Opinions – Facilitators: Francesco Spera, Fabiana Magnolo and Matteo Fulgenzi
3. Defining and Countering Disinformation Industry – Facilitators: Laurids Hempel and Polina Zavershinskaia

17,30 – Open Assembly of the Association for Supranational Democracy

Scientific Committee: Susanna Cafaro, Saverio Di Benedetto, Claudia Morini, Martí Grau Segú, Valerie Saintot, Silvia Solidoro, Francesco Spera

Organizing Committee: Francesco Viggiani, Elisabetta Marzo, Isabella Salsano, Jacopo Lillo, Fabiana Magnolo

Partners: Association for Supranational Democracy, Jean Monnet House- European Parliament, Democracy and Culture Foundation, Union of European Federalists; Democracy without Borders, G100 Global Networking, the Democracy School, Robert Triffin International Foundation, CESUE, Euractiv.it, the Streit Council for a Union of Democracies, Athena – Critical Inquiries in Law, Philosophy and Globalization, Italian Association of Scholars of European law (AISDUE); Jean Monnet Chairs and Modules at Università del Salento

Streaming: https://bit.ly/supranationaldemocracy2025