International IDEA hosted the Club de Madrid Next Generation Democracy Roundtable on Wider Europe and Post-Soviet Eurasia on 2-4 June. This event looked more closely at the challenges and opportunities for improving the quality of democracy in Post-Soviet Eurasia and Wider Europe. A diverse region, as it features different institutional performances, political trends and economic outlooks.
Eight European and Eurasian members of Club de Madrid, the world´s largest forum of former democratic Presidents and Prime Ministers, were present. These included Mr Zlatko Lagumdzija, former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina; former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Mr Philip Dimitrov; Mrs Roza Otunbayeva, former President of the Kyrgyz Republic; Mr Danilo Türk, former President of Slovenia; Mr Petre Roman, former Prime Minister of Romania; former Prime Minister of Slovakia, Mrs Iveta Radicova; Mr Alfred Gusenbauer, former Chancellor of Austria and Mr Yves Leterme, former Prime Minister of Belgium and current Secretary-General of International IDEA.
Club de Madrid and International IDEA agreed to continue their efforts in pushing democracy forward. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Mr Carlos Westendorp, Secretary-General of Club de Madrid and by Mr Leterme. Both organizations will continue to work on the Next Generation Democracy Project, a two-year multi-stakeholder project led by the Club de Madrid, and on other areas.
Closing the agenda was the public event ´Crisis or Transformation? A Conversation on Democracy´ held on 4 June. At that event the former European leaders expressed their respective visions on the opportunities and challenges of democracy now and in the future.
