Hambach Democracy Dialogue: Shaping a Progressive European Democracy

The Hambach Democracy Dialogue: the FES annual flagship on the future of European Democracy

The Hambach Democracy Dialogue (HDD) conference is the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s annual flagship event on the future of European Democracy with renowned speakers fromall over Europe. Progressive Tradition, European Vision: The HDD follows in the tradition started by the Hambach Festival of 1832 in terms of German and European democratic history and Europe's ideals and history of integration. At Hambach Castle in the German-French border region we reflect on democracy in Europe at our high-level conferences and establish a platform for exchanging progressive ideas and proposls for enhancing and defending European democracy. For more information, visit our dedicated website.

HDD23: Defending Democracy in Times of Multiple Crises

In recent years, overlapping crises have preoccupied Europe: the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the rise of the illiberal right, COVID-19, and the energy and cost-of-living crises are challenging European democracies in different ways.

On 15 and 16 June, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is organising the third Hambach Democracy Dialogue to discuss how Social Democracy can be defended and how it should respond to the current challenges. Together with politicians, experts, and representatives of European civil society, as well as young people and young professionals from all over Europe, we present and debate studies and working papers on progressive approaches to strengthening democracies' resilience. Our aim: to develop progressive ideas and proposals for the future of European democracies.

The focus of this year’s conference is on defending democracy in times of multiple crises. How can democracies be best defended against the illiberal right, against economic turbulences, and against autocracies that are gaining in assertiveness and challenging democracies?

HDD22: Strengthening the Resilience of European Democracy

In June, we welcomed international speakers from all around Europe at our Hambach Democracy Dialogue to talk about new progressive ideas and ways to defend democracy and to strengthen its resilience. Jennifer McCoy and Victor Negrescu, two of our speakers at HDD22 have written down their ideas to reduce or contain polarization and strengthen the political participation of the young generation in the first two issues of our Hambach Democracy Papers.

Access the paper "Reducing Pernicious Polarization" by Jennifer McCoy here.

Access the paper "Reviving Youth Participation for Democracy" by Victor Negrescu here. 

Furthermore, the 2022 conference was captured in a series of short videos featuring our distinguished speakers. Ranging from the idea behind the HDD to polarisation in the political sphere to the participation of the youth in European politics, you can view the entire playlist.

Proposals and ideas of the HDD21

The next Hambach Democratic Dialogue will take place in 2022. Meanwhile, our work on the future of European Democracy continues. Here you can find more information and a highlight video of the HDD21 with prominent speakers from all over Europe. Together with our media partner Euractiv we will publish several articles on the main proposals and ideas discussed at the conference. Please find a selection here:

• Democratization of Democracy: The Conference on the Future of Europe as a Role Model? Opinion piece by Filip Milacic
• The Conference on the Future of Europe: Depolarise the political debate is the best way to save democracy. Article by Eleanora Vasques
• The Conference on the Future of Europe: EU citizens demand wider protection under rule of law. Article by Eleonora Vasques
• Russia multiplies fake reports to further escalate the conflict, senior EU official warns. Interview with Lutz Güllner, Head of Strategic Communication at the EEAS.
• Regulation is the only way to make online platforms serve society, MEP says

For more information, please contact Marco Schwarz, Policy officer for Democracy, Rule of law & Good Governance: marco.schwarz(at)fes.de