New Dreams for Europe

Europe is out of joint. In the midst of the turbulent times of Brexit and shortly before the ninth direct elections to the European Parliament, we sit down to talk about the future of our international community – with political scientist Ulrike Guérot, who founded the European Democracy Lab in 2014, Roger de Weck, former editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT, actress and filmmaker Maryam Zaree, and art gallerist Johann König.

In their 1941 manifesto “For a Free and United Europe”, political prisoners of war Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi drew on the island Ventotene a picture of a place where allies and enemies meet to avoid "old absurdities". Has the utopian dream of Europe as a peace project come to an end? Which absurdities shape our time and how can tomorrow's Europe resist them? Does Europe need pragmatism or imagination? We are looking for what could go beyond the current polarisation between the old left and the new right, between economic lobbying and public welfare activism.

“Reden über Veränderung“ is a series of fishbowl discussions on stage of the Festspielhaus, in which the audience’s interaction is explicitly welcomed. The event will be broadcast live nation-wide onthe digital channel “Dlf Documente und Debatten”.