14-17 September 2020
Democracy Week 14-17 September 2020 Overcoming Adversity, Innovating Democracy CONFERENCE REPORT In celebration of the International Day of Democracy, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the European Partnership for Democracy, the European Endowment for Democracy, the European Network of Political Foundations and Carnegie Europe co-hosted, together with the European Parliament, a four-day conference that consisted of a series of online events marked as International Democracy Week – Overcoming Adversity, Innovating Democracy. From 14 to 17 September, the 7 events of International Democracy Week featured more than 30 speakers, including high-level EU and UN representatives, prominent politicians, experts from international NGOs, local activists and academics. The conference constituted a platform where democracy actors from different regions in the world could meet and exchange lessons about coping with challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 14 September Global Democracy and the Coronavirus Fallout To mark the launch of International Democracy Week, this event featured a high-level political discussion exploring the state of global democracy, European foreign policy, and democracy support amid the pandemic. The discussion kicked off with Rosa Balfour, Director of Carnegie Europe, unpacking the threats and opportunities facing democracies worldwide, based on the collective report, Global Democracy and COVID-19: Upgrading International Support, co-authored by Richard Youngs (Carnegie Europe) and Elene Panchulidze (Georgian Institute of Politics) and led by 11 democracy organisations. Rosa first turned to Stefano Sannino, Deputy Secretary General for Economic and Global Issues of the European External Action Service (EEAS), to discuss the EU. The EU has rallied ‘Team Europe’ and mobilised 36 billion euros for global response to the pandemic, dedicated to slowing the spread of the virus and mitigating the public health and economic impacts the virus has had around the world.
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