Effects of elections in CEE countries on EU governance (conference)

International conference
Tentative Time: Monday November 30th, 2015, 10.00 – 14.00
Venue: Central European University, Budapest, 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 – 10.00 Registration
10.00 – 10.15 Introductory remarks, professor Péter Balázs, Director of CENS

10.15 – 11.30 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

11.30 – 11.45 Coffee break

11.45 – 13.00 Panel II: The broader context of elections; effects on national, transnational and European current issues; comparative results
Speakers:
Pavol Babos, Centre of social and psychological sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Single-party Central Europe: Should the EU care?
Mitja Žagar, Research Councilor at the Institute for Ethnic Studies & Full Professor at the Universities of Ljubljana and of Primorska/Littoral, 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

13.00 – 13.15 Concluding remarks, Bogdan Radu, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania and CENS, Central European University

13.15 – 14.00 Lunch