The Public Affairs Community of Europe held its 9th Annual Meeting in Prague, on May 17-18, 2019.
The meeting, took place at the Malostransk beseda, Prague (Czech Republic), and was organized in collaboration with the APAA – Association of Public Affairs Agencies of the Czech Republic.
Friday May 17th, Venue: Malostranská beseda , Malostranské nám. 21, Prague 1
08:30 09:00 Registration
09:00 09:15 Opening Address
- Maria Rosa Rotondo, President, PACE
- Václav Nekvapil, Chairman of APAA, Vice-President, PACE
- Deputy Minister of Justice (invited)
09:15 10:45 “The role of lobbying and interest representation in today’s Europe”
How does lobbying influence the quality of democracy? Is it worth regulating it? What should be the focus of effective regulation? What should be regulated? What is the role of self-regulation in Public Affairs? What are basic elements of lobbying regulations and best practices both on European and international level?
- Isabelle De Vinck, President, EPACA (European Public Affairs Consultancies’ Association)
- Martin Ohridski, Policy Officer, Transparency Unit, European Commission
- Dominik Meier, Chair De’ge’pol (Germany), Vice-President, PACE
- Jiří Kapras, Head of Department of Conflict of Interests and Fight Against Corruption,
- Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic
- David Ondráčka, Director, Transparency International Czech Republic
10:45 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 12:00 Panel discussion of political parties representatives:
- Jan Chvojka (Social Democrats),
- Marek Benda (Civic Democrats)
- Mikuláš Peksa (Pirates)
12:00 13:00 Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law and Founder of The Good Lobby “Lobbying as a new practice of democratic participation”
13:00 13:45 Lunch Break
13:45 14:15 Keynote Speaker: Jan Matoušek, Executive Director, the Czech Insurance Association
14:15 16:00 Panel discussion II: “How to improve the reputation of lobbyists?” What could lobbyists do themselves to increase their reputation? Is the legislation on lobbying a way to increase reputation and to avoid further stigmatization? What is the role of NGO sector in education of citizens in defending their rights, i.e. lobbying? How does academic research contribute to that?
- Denisa Hejlová, Head of Department of Marketing Communication and PR, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague
- Ana Bovan and Nenad Vuković, Serbian Society of Lobbyists
- Štěpán Drahokoupil and Petr Machálek, Advocacy Forum, Open Society Fund
- Joao Sousa, Public Affairs Council, Brussels
- Weston Stacey, Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
16:00 16:30 Closing remarks
Picture Source: Henrik G. Vogel / pixelio.de
