Discussion Panel with Ambassadors

With the participation of the Ambassador of Germany to Bulgaria, H.E. Ms. Irene Plank; the Ambassador of Ukraine to Bulgaria, H.E. Ms. Olesya Ilashchuk; and the Ambassador of Romania to Bulgaria, H.E. Ms. Brânduşa Ioana Predescu. Moderator: Vessela Tcherneva, European Council on Foreign Relations

The Ambassadors’ Workshop is a special discussion panel of the “Walls” international conference. It will be held in the form of a roundtable and will consider the issues raised by the forum, but from a practical rather than an academic point of view. Its participants are professional diplomats whose work is connected with overcoming walls or creating new ones on a near daily basis; their practical immersion in current politics and geopolitical dynamics constantly forces them to both defend borders and to seek opportunities for cross-border cooperation and dialogue.

Photos: Yana Lozeva

The topics raised by the workshop will be related to these visible and invisible borders and the resulting risks to liberal democracy. What are the current dividing lines both within the EU and between the EU and the rest of the European countries that remain outside the union? What are the opportunities for preventing dangers through diplomacy and for mediation on risky issues? And what should the principal role of diplomacy be in maintaining the delicate balance between security and freedom in search of European solidarity?

Current challenges will also be touched upon: what are the possible scenarios that diplomacy can offer regarding populisms, the culture wars, the series of migrant waves, disinformation, and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East?

In English, with Bulgarian translation. Free entry with advance registration.

Organizers: the Cultural Center of Sofia University and the Center for Reading and Culture, with the assistance of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Embassy of Romania, the Embassy of Ukraine, and the Bureau of the European Parliament in Bulgaria