The 2020 Edition of the FES Romania Alumni Conference

Resilience is the buzzword of the hour. Like no other crisis of the recent past, the current COVID-19 pandemic is testing the coping capacity limits of individuals, countries, and European institutions. The fragility of our shared wellbeing is brought to the fore as we try to react to the sudden change of conditions that threaten the ability of our societies to function and of our economies to prosper. This new awareness of emergency and vulnerability has prompted debates across Europe not only about expanding our capacity to absorb the shocks and adapt to their disruptive effects, but about 'going forward and beyond' that to an all-new transformative framework.

Together with our guest speakers we have tried to find answers to the following fundamental questions: How has the COVID-19 crisis affected us? What lessons can we draw from this? How can we get out stronger out of this crisis? And what role should European progressive forces play to usher in this better, more resilient Europe?