The motto of the Czech Presidency “Europe as a task,” was inspired by Václav Havel´s speech in Aachen in 1996 that is still very topical. Other ideas that Václav Havel presented at the time valid as well “...we might say the task of Europe today is to rediscover its conscience and its sense of responsibility in the deepest sense of the word, not just with regard to its own political architecture but also with regard to the world as a whole.” How has European thinking changed? The discussion therefore focused on how Russian aggression against Ukraine has changed European thinking, especially in terms of democracy and the geopolitical situation in Europe and its close neighbourhood.

The conference, traditionally dedicated to the intellectual and political legacy of Václav Havel, was opened by Edita Hrdá, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU and Pavel Klucký, Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium. Lucie Čadilová, the director of the Prague House welcomed the participants to its premises. Stefano Sannino, Secretary General of the European External Action Service, David McAllister, Member of the European Parliament and Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Olena Halushka, member of the Board of the Ukrainian Anticorruption Action Center and Ian Lesser, Vice President of the Brussels office of the German Marshall Fund of the US, spoke alongside the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavský.

The event was organized jointly by the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Brussels, the Václav Havel Library, the Czech Center in Brussels and Prague House, where the entire event took place. Those interested in the conference could watch the broadcast online, the record is available here.

An ongoing collection to support Ukraine for medical purposes was also presented on the sidelines of the conference. The collection was established in relation to the framework of the official government platform of Ukraine UNITED24 initiated by Ukrainian President V. Zelensky. The collection was initiated by the Embassy of Ukraine in Belgium, and the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU provides it support during its cultural and other events.

This year's edition of the Václav Havel European Dialogues makes part of a series of human rights and democracy events organized by the Presidency of the Czech Republic of the Council of the EU in Brussels under the label #EU2022CZforHumanRights. Among them are, for example, the traditional lighting of candles at Václav Havel's bench and the reading from the aforementioned speech in Leopold Park. These are followed by the opening of photo exhibition about Václav Havel by Jiří Jíra on November 17,  a screening of the film The Painted Bird and an exhibition of photographs from the Terezín ghetto “Album G. T.” on the sidelines of the conference on anti-Semitism on November 24, or the exhibition of paintings by the Ukrainian girl "How My Government Took Home Twice," in cooperation with People in Need in a tent on the Schuman roundabout on December 7 in Brussels, complemented by a light projection. The series will conclude with a screening of the movie Havel at the Bozar Art Center on December 8.

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský spoke at Václav Havel's European Dialogues in Brussels