Programme

Update: 23 November

8 November 16:00 - 18:30

OPENING OF THE EUROPEAN FORUM

Alberto Garzón, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Spain
Alexis Tsipras, former Prime Minister, Greece, TBC
Aurélie Maréchal, Political Director of Green European Foundation
Catarina Martins, Coordinator of Bloco de Esquerda and MP, Portugal, TBC
Heinz Bierbaum, President of the Party of the European Left
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, MP La France Insoumise, TBC
John Mc Donnell, Labour, ex Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, UK
Maite Mola, Vice-President of the Party of the European Left
Manon Aubry, Co-Chair of the GUE/NGL
Marga Ferré, Co-President of transform! europe
Maria Svart, Executive Director of Democratic Socialists of America, DSA, USA
Mary Lou McDonald, President of the Sinn Féin, Ireland
Thierry Bodson, President of the FGTB, Belgium
Tibor Szanyi, IGEN, Hungary
Uwe Optenhögel, Vice-President of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, FEPS

Video messages from Guillermo Teillier, President of the Communist Party of Chile; Gleisi Hoffmann, President of the Workers' Party, Brazil; Segundina Flores, MAS, Bolivia

Moderation: Pierre Laurent, Vice-President of the Party of the European Left

10 November 10:00 - 12:00 - GUE/NGL seminar

EU migration policies: inhumanity in law and in practice vs alternatives

Anila Noor, Global Refugee-led Network and founder of the New Women Connectors
Bernd Drueke, Coordinator of Seebrücke Mainz
David Conlan Smyth, Senior Counsel, CCBE/European Lawyers in Lesvos
Helena Maleno, Human rights defender in Caminando Fronteras
Iñigo Mijangos, President of Salvamento Maritimo Humanitario - Aita Mari
Milena Zajovic, President of Are You Syrious / Head of Advocacy, Border Violence Monitoring Network

Moderation: Sara Prestianni, EuroMed Rights, Asylum and migration programme officer

11 November 18:00 - 20:00: THEMATIC FORUM

News from the frontline: fighting racism and the far-right during the pandemic

Diane Abbott, MP, Former British shadow Home Secretary, UK
Fabian Figueiredo, Bloco de Esquerda, Portugal
Maria Spiliotopoulou, Syriza, Greece
Rafael Morales Dominguez, La Desbanda, Spain
Ulrich Schneider, VVN-BDA, Germany
Urszula Kuczyńska, Fundacja Naprzód, Poland

Moderation: Kate Hudson, Left Unity, UK

12 November 18:00 – 20:00: THEMATIC FORUM

The experience of the Covid-19 crisis: the future of health in Europe

Enrique Ubieta, Cuban Doctors Brigade
Joan Benach, Professor at University of Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona, Spain
Karystinaki Fotini, Greek nurse, Board of the workers' union in Evangelismos Hospital
Loïc Pen, emergency doctor, France
Saila Ruuth, State Secretary for the Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Finland
Sofie Merckx, federal MP of PTB, Workers' Party of Belgium, doctor at Medicine for the People, Belgium
Tugdual Le Lay, responsable Europe of Génération.s, France
Vittorio Agnoletto, Truth and justice, Italy

Moderation: Francine Mestrum, Global Justice

13 November 12:00 – 14:00: Workshop, Women Assembly

Physical violence

The Radical Left in a Pandemic World: Perspectives from Europe

To register, click here.

a. 10.00 - 13.00 Introduction to the debate and discussion: the pandemic as an accelerator of capitalist developments and the consequences for European Integration

Anna Mikkola, Vice-President of the EL – Vasemmistoliitto, Finland
Catarina Martins, Coordinator of Bloco de Esquerda and MP, Portugal, TBC
Georgios Katrougalos, Professor of Public Law & MP of SYRIZA, Greece
Heinz Bierbaum, President of the Party of the European Left
Juan Carlos Monedero, President of Instituto25m, Spain
Maria Karamesini, Professor of Labour Economics and Social Policy
Walter Baier, Member of the Board of transform! europe

Moderator : Angelina Giannopoulou, Facilitator of transform! europe

b. 14.00 - 16.00 'Optimism of the will': Building hope for and by the Left

Danai Koltsida, Director of Nicos Poulantzas Institute, Greece
Hugo Monteiro, Professor of Philosophy & Member of the Board of transform! europe
Marga Ferré, Co-President of transform! europe
Martin Schirdewan, Co-President of GUE/NGL in the EP, TBC
Paolo Ferrero, Vice-President EL – Rifondazione Comunista
Yann Le Lann, President of Espaces Marx, France

Moderator: Haris Golemis, Scientific and Strategic Advisor of transform! europe

c. 17.00 - 19.00 The intervention point: Collective initiatives for the left in Europe

David Pestieau, Deputy Chairman of PTB, Belgium
Deborah James, Director of International Programs, Center for Economic and Policy Research & Coordinator of ‘Our World Is Not for Sale‘
Javier Moreno, Assistant Professor of Communication & Project Manager in Fundación por la Europa de los Ciudadanos (FEC), Spain
Katalin Gennburg, Member of the Berlin Parliament for Die Linke
Patrice Leclercq, Mayor of Gennevilliers with PCF, France, TBC
Sophie Binet, Co-Secretary - CGT executives, France, TBC

Moderator: Cornelia Hildebrandt, Co-President of transform! europe, Germany

17 November 17:00 - 19:00: THEMATIC FORUM

International trade between climate change and pandemic: what solutions facing free trade? Which safeguards in a digital world?

Léa Auffret, The European Consummer Organisation, BEUC
Dr. Christine Riefa, Brunel University London
Emmanuel Maurel, MEP, Gauche Républicaine et Socialiste
Helmut Scholz, MEP, Die Linke

Moderation: Albert Klein, Progressive Caucus

18 November - time TBC: GUE/NGL seminar

Multiannual Financial Framework, MFF and Next Generation EU, NGEU: Social, green and digital challenges

Rasmus Andresen, GREENS/EFA, Germany
Costas Mavrides, MEP S&D, Cyprus
Luca Visentini, General Secretary of European Trade Union Confederation, ETUC

Moderator: Dimítrios Papadimoúlis, MEP, Syriza

19 November 18:00 – 20:00: THEMATIC FORUM

Global Warming: what priorities for a fair and inclusive ecological transition?

Asbjørn Wahl, Trade-Unionist, Norway
Cristiana Cerri Gambarelli, Project Manager, Federation of Young European Greens
David Cid, MP Catalunya en Comu
Inger V. Johansen, Red-Green Alliance, Denmark
Jens Holm, MP of the Left Party, Sweden
Lorenz Gösta Beutin, MP Die Linke, Germany, TBC
Marisa Matias, MEP Bloco de Esquerda, Portugal
Thomas Waitz, Co-Chair of the European Green Party

20 November 16:00 - 18:00: transform! europe WORKSHOP

Christian-Marxist Dialogue on Achieving Ecological Ecumenism

Cornelia Hildebrandt, Co-President of transform! europe, Germany
Walter Baier, Member of the Board of transform! europe, Austria
Raul Buffo, PhD Candidate and lecturer at Sophia University Institute, Italy
Federico Rovea, PhD Candidate and lecturer at Sophia University Institute, Italy

Moderation: Angelina Giannopoulou, Facilitator of transform! europe, Greece

21 November 11:00 - 12:30

The importance of sovereignty and municipalism in the fight against Covid-19 and its consequences: Local experiences on healthcare in the Basque Country and Catalonia

Aizpea Otaegi, Mayor of the city of Renteria
Miquel Pueyo, Mayor of the city of Lleida
Mireia Ingla, Mayor of the city of Sant Cugat (TBC)
Rapporteur: Meritxell Serret

21 November 17:00 – 20:00

CULTURE ASSEMBLY – No Europe without Culture

• Intermittent artists and cultural workers are full-fledged workers: quickly a status that gives them the same rights as other workers!
• What culture to give Europe its progressive identity?
• Faced with the migration policy crisis and the growing influence of the far right, why is culture essential?

Enke Fezollari, theatre director and actor, Albania
Jose Manuel Beltran, Director of the Documentary Film Festival in Donostia/San Sebastian, Basque Country
Margarita Syngeniotou, lyric artist and opera singer
Omiros Poulakis, actor and member of Syriza, Greece
Serge Regourd, emeritus professor at Université de Toulouse 1

22 November 17:00 (TBC)

YOUTH ASSEMBLY - The far-right virus and the virus of a precarious life for youth in jobs, higher education, mental health and social freedoms

23 November 18:00 – 20:00: THEMATIC FORUM

What global security for European solidarity and world peace?

Giorgos Katrougalos, MP SYRIZA, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Greece
Mina Tolu, Co-spokesperson of Federation of Young European Greens
Neoklis Sylikiotis, Akel, Cyprus
Oguz Turkyilmaz, International policies working group of Sol (Left) Party, Turkey
Petro Symonenko, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine
Reiner Braun, Co President International Peace Bureau, Germany

Moderation: Katerina Anastasiou, transform! europe and Axel Ruppert, Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation

24 November 16:00 - 18:00

TRADE UNIONISTS ASSEMBLY: The coronacrisis and its effects on trade unions

• Overview
• Labour conditions and labour rights
• Collective bargaining – wages and working time

Esther Lynch, Deputy Secretary General, ETUC
Heinz Bierbaum, President of the European Left
Yota Lazaropoulou, General Secretary of National Bank Employees – former Ethnodata, Greece

Moderator: Enrique Carmona, Head of Brussels Office, CCOO - Comisiones Obreras, Spain

24 November 18:30 - 21:00

WOMEN ASSEMBLY

Angeliki Visviki, Syriza, Greece
Annie Raja, Vice-President of the Asian region of the Women's International Democratic Federation, FDIM, National Federation of Indian Women, India
Eunice Iipinge, Vice-President of the African region of the FDIM, SWAPO Party, Namibia, TBC
Helène Bidard, Deputy mayor of Paris in charge of gender equality
Lizz Toledo, USA, Women in Struggle, TBC
Lorena Peña, World President of the FDIM, Salvador
Nina Ostatnina, State Duma MP, Russia
Noelia Vera, State Secretariat of the Ministry of Equality, Spain

Moderation: Charlotte Balavoine, French Communist Party, GUE/NGL and Cristina Simo, Communist Party of Spain

25 November 18:00 - 20:00: WORKSHOPS, transform! europe and Rosa-Luxembourg-Foundation

How is security debated within Europe’s left and progressive forces? Considerations for a new left concept of security

Angelika Adensamer, Vienna Centre for Societal Security
David Perejil Bricio, Podemos International secretariat
Heidi Meinzolt, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom
Sarah Reader, Agir pour la paix, TBC
Walter Baier, Transform Europe

Moderation: Katerina Anastasiou, transform! europe and Axel Ruppert, RLF Brussels 

26 November 18:00 – 20:00: THEMATIC FORUM

What new model for production and work facing the explosion of unemployment?

Edouard Martin, ex MEP S&D, France, TBC
Fabien Roussel, National Secretary of the French Communist Party
Gianni Rinaldini, ex-General Secretary of FIOM, Italy
Károly György, International Secretary of Hungarian Alliance of Trade Unions
Kim van Sparrentak, MEP Greens/EFA, GroenLinks, Netherlands
Luc Triangle, General Secretary of industriAll
Victoria Velásquez, MP of the Red-Green Alliance, Denmark, TBC
Yolanda Diaz, Spanish Minister of Labour

Moderation: Marilisa Xenogiannakopoulou, MP of Syriza, Greece

27 November 17:00 - 19:00 - Seminar of transform!europe, the Green European Foundation (GEF) and the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS)

How can we drastically reduce CO2 emissions in the EU and eradicate poverty?

Aurélie Maréchal, Political Director, Green European Foundation GEF
Cornelia Hildebrandt, Co-President transform! europe
Jonathan Essex, Green House Think Tank, United Kingdom
Manuela Kropp, Project Manager Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Brussels
Saïd El Khadraoui, Special Adviser FEPS, Belgium
Uwe Optenhögel, Vice-President Foundation for European Progressive Studies, FEPS

28 November - CLOSING OF THE FORUM

Presentations of the conclusions of the debates and presentation of the final declaration

Dimítrios Papadimoúlis, MEP Syriza, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Greece, TBC
Ernest Urtasun, MEP, Vice-President of the Greens/EFA group, Spain, TBC
Jose Luis Centella, President of the PCE, Spain
Julie Steendam, Citizen committee of the Right2Cure campaign, Belgium
Martin Schirdewan, Co-Chairs of the GUE/NGL
Monica Valente, Forum de São Paulo
Pierre Laurent, Vice-President of the Party of the European Left