Followed by a competitive selection procedure, 10 devoted representatives of the new, politically active generation of Ukraine have been selected to participate in the ICDT’s flagship project, the V4 Academy for Political Leadership, starting with the kick-off event between 12-15 May. This is truly a Visegrad initiative: with the support of the International Visegrad Fund, a strong cooperation of regional institutions provides the basis of the training program, involving not only theoretical but also practical components.

Relying primarily on the experiences of the democratic transition of Central Eastern Europe, the core idea of the events is to present a large variety of lectures in the topic. As a prologue of the event, Mr. József Szájer (MEP, Vice-Chairman and chief whip of the European People’s Party) shared his personal testimony in connection with the famous Round Table Talks, a milestone event in the history of the political changes of 1989-90 in Hungary. During the following days, distinguished lecturers contributed to the training program in various topics, ranging from the examination of economic reforms, conflict and crisis management, or even practical insights of the political life. Lecturers and the topics covered were as follows:

• Annamária Kékesi / Director for Development, ICDT, Hungary / "Political decisions beyond political propaganda"
• László Kovács / Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former EU Commissioner, Hungary / "Hungarian foreign policy before and after the political and economic transition"
• Iaroslav Kovalchuk / Head of Internal POlicy Department, ICPS, Ukraine / "Language of charismatic leadership"
• Maria Sabina Lazar / Development Manager, ICDT, Hungary / UN Security Council Simulation
• Pavel Nechala / Associate Fellow, Transparency International, Slovakia / "Key elements of successfully fighting corruption in a transition country"
• Anatoliy Oktysiuk / Senior Analyst, ICPS, Ukraine / "Electoral campaign and political competition"
• Dušan Ondrušek / Chairman of Board, Partners for Democratic Change, Slovakia / "Conflict settlement, conflict resolution, conflict transformation"
• Ivan Pilip / Former Minister of Finance, Czech Republic / "Economic crisis in the V4 region"
• György Surányi / Former President of the National Bank, Hungary / "The ‘95 Stabilization Program After 20 Years"
• Jason Worlledge / Director, European Academy of Diplomacy, Poland / "Leadership in Periods of Crisis"

For further information updates, we recommend following the project's facebook page, or having a look at the teaser video about the kick-off event.