Visegrad Summer School just ended! Short review...
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July saw the eleventh edition of the Visegrad Summer School, hosted by the Villa Decius Association take place in Krakow. The VSS is a celebration of V4 cooperation and has been in existence since 2002.
This year saw nearly fifty participants from eleven countries – students, graduates, PhD researchers, young professionals from the Central and Eastern Europe countries and many esteemed experts take part in the school.Once again this year’s event proved memorable, from the opening lecture on Václav Havel to the study trips around the Małopolska and Krakow region.
As each day featured a range of diverse and engaging topics.
This year the Visegrad Summer School
dealt with many issues including: the Euro-crisis, Liberal Democracy, Tolerance
in society and Eastern partnership in Europe today.
Some of the more memorable lectures of this year’s edition included the opening debate evaluating the E.U. Presidencies of the Visegrad countries and the lecture on corruption given by the charismatic Martin Ehl, head of the Foreign Desk in economic daily Hospodářské Noviny. However, perhaps the most popular lecture of the two week event came from Gottfried Wagner from Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in Vienna on the subject of ‘’Cultural creativity in Europe’’. Outlining personal experience in this field Mr. Wagner provided a powerful insight into culture within Europe today and was well received by all in attendance.
Certainly, this year’s edition of the Visegrad Summer
School clearly achieved all of its objectives and proved to be a success in
every aspect of the programme. Events such as the VSS have come to symbolise
cooperation in the Visegrad group and beyond. This year was truly memorable due to the
International Visegrad Prize being awarded to the Villa Decius Association. Prize
is given annually since 2005 for the development of cultural cooperation within
the Visegrad Group countries. Certainly the awarding of this prize coupled with
the success of the VSS made 2012 a great year at the Villa Decius Association.
