The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Budapest (FES) and the Center for EU Enlargement Studies (CENS) at Central European University (CEU) are pleased to invite you to

The Effects of Elections in CEE Countries on EU Governance

November 30, 2015, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., CEU, Nador utca 9, Popper Room

Free and fair elections are a necessary condition of democracy. In EU member states, national elections can have effects beyond the realm of domestic politics, as the recent elections in Poland, or last year’s presidential elections in Romania suggest. More specifically, aspects of the functioning, identity and future of the EU represent points of debate in national elections, along with EU-wide issues such as migration, the refugee crisis or the rise of populism and extremism.

With this international conference, CENS at CEU, together with FES, aim to create an opportunity for critical debate concerning elections in post-communist EU member states by discussing the significance of election results and their far-reaching consequences.

Program:

9.30 Registration

10.00 Introductory remarks, Professor Péter Balázs, Director of CENS

10.15 Panel I: Elections in East Central Europe: debating the main political participation act; country case studies

Speakers:

Claudiu Tufis, University of Bucharest, Romania: The Coagulation of Grassroots Movements in Post-Accession Romania

Daniel Smilov, Center for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, Bulgaria: Elections and Fears in the EU Periphery

Róbert László, Political Capital Policy Research and Consulting Institute, Budapest, Hungary:

The new Hungarian election system’s beneficiaries

Michal Vit, Europeum, Prague, Czech Republic, Project coordinator of ceeidentity.eu

Socialization of CEE Governments in the EU environment - Who Shapes the Norms?

Moderator: Antónia Mészáros, journalist, ATV (TBC)

 11.30 Coffee break

11.45 Panel II: The broader context of elections; effects on national, transnational and European current issues; comparative results

Speakers:

Pavol Babos, Department of Political Science, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia:

Single-party Central Europe: Should the EU care?

Mitja Žagar, Director, Institute for Ethnic Studies, Ljubljana, Slovenia:

Elections: The Foundation of Democracy or Political Charade?

Agnieszka Cianciara, European Studies Department, Institute of Political Studies Polish Academy of Sciences Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland:

European policy of Law and Justice government: change or continuity?

Bogdan Radu, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania and CENS, Central European University, Zselyke Tofálvi, CENS, Central European University:

Religious determinants of political participation in Poland and Romania

Moderator: Antónia Mészáros, journalist, ATV (TBC)

 13.15 Concluding remarks, Bogdan Radu, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania and CENS, Central European University

 13.15 Lunch