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Havel, Europe and the World

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  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: January 25, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00

The role of the Václav Havel Library in the Czech Republic’s public diplomacy

In the spirit of Václav Havel’s legacy, the Václav Havel Library is actively involved in public diplomacy and events beyond the Czech Republic’s borders. We have been running the Václav Havel European Dialogues – an opportunity to discuss the issues facing Europe and its citizens – for some eight years. We have been presenting the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize in cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Nadace Charty 77, with an associated international conference, for 10 years. Two years ago we also launched the Václav Havel Transatlantic Dialogues, now renamed Havel-Albright Transatlantic Dialogues. Since 2017 we have been a member of the European Parliament’s Network of Political Houses and Foundations of Great Europeans.

In 2022 we were involved in the conception of the Czech Republic’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, which had the umbrella slogan – borrowed from Havel – of “Europe as a Task”. Sixteen Václav Havel European Dialogues were prepared in 12 countries of the European Union and in Egypt during the year. Havel-Albright Transatlantic Dialogues took place in three locations in Europe and the United States. And this year’s Václav Havel Human Rights Prize conference, under the title Crime and Punishment, focused on the issue of punishing war crimes committed as part of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

An attempt to summarise the insights gleaned from all these events, and the importance of the former president’s legacy, will be made during an evening focused on Havel, Europe and the world by the minister for European Affairs, Mikuláš Bek, the director general of the Czech Centres network, Ondřej Černý, the director of the Czech Centre Paris, Jiří Hnilica, and Jiří Přibáň, professor of law at Cardiff University.

The evening will be hosted by Michael Žantovský, director of the Václav Havel Library.

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