What will CE Bring into the Summit for Democracy?

American President Joe Biden’s inaugural Summit for Democracy scheduled for 9-10 December will bring together heads of state of more than 100 countries, civil society and the private sector. Hungary was the only EU country not invited along with Russia, Belarus and Turkey.

The Summit — held virtually due to the pandemic and in a year to be repeated in person — will bring together political leaders and social activists to announce their commitments, reforms and initiatives aimed at democratic renewal globally. It will focus on three main themes: defending against authoritarianism, combating corruption and promoting respect for human rights.

The text below is based on a discussion between Thomas E. Garrett (Secretary General, Community of Democracies), Benjamin Haddad (Senior Director, Europe Center at the Atlantic Council), Wojciech Przybylski (Editor-in-chief, Visegrad Insight), Iveta Radičová (former Prime Minister of Slovakia) and Richard Youngs (Senior Fellow, Carnegie Europe), who spoke together at the sixth iteration of the Open Eyes Economy Summit, a Kraków-based international event dedicated to a values-based approach to economic affairs. The discussion was organised by Visegrad Insight and was moderated by Zuzana Papazoski (Resident Director for Central Europe at the National Democratic Institute). 

America Is Back

Before his official appointment as the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party and long before the announcement of the Summit for Democracy, then-candidate Joe Biden published an article for Foreign Affairs in March 2020 outlining the need to rescue America’s foreign policy after Trump. The piece sent a clear message to distressed allies and friends around the globe: all pressing issues can be resolved through more partnerships and more alliances, especially among democracies.