Prague, 21 November – The Platform of European Memory and Conscience (PEMC) held its annual Council of Members meeting and international conference “Russia’s Hybrid War Against the Democratic World. A Challenge for European Remembrance Policy” on 16-18 November 2022 at the Liechtenstein Palace in Prague. The conference was co-organised by the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and the Twentieth Century Memorial Museum under the auspices of the Czech Government as an important side event of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
On 18 November, PEMC also presented its international activities during the meeting of representatives of the EU National Contact Points of the directly managed Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme in Prague. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the European Commission.
Annual meeting of the Council of Members
On 16 November, representatives of more than 45 member organisations gathered at the Liechtenstein Palace in Prague for a meeting of the Council of Members. They approved the annual report for 2021. Six members of the Executive Board and two members of the Supervisory Board were elected during the meeting:
- Elected Executive Board members are: Antoine Arjakovsky (France); Toomas Hiio (Estonia); Jonila Godole (Albania); Zsolt Szilágyi (Romania); Pawel Ukielski (Poland); Andreja Valič Zver (Slovenia)
- Elected Supervisory Board members are: Maria Axinte (Romania), Yana Hrynko (Ukraine)
Ms Réka Földváryne Kiss (elected in 2021, resigned from the Supervisory Board on 16 November). At the first meeting of the new Executive Board, the Managing Director Mr Peter Rendek, was re-elected.
The members of the PEMC voted in favour of full membership of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (Czech Republic), which as one of the founding members, has thus rejoined the Platform after 2014-2022. Full membership was also granted to the new Albanian member Kujto Foundation, and two new candidates were admitted, the Musée de la Résistance de Limoges from France and the Silesian Centre for Freedom and Solidarity from Katowice, Poland.
Opening of the conference, Prize of the Platform
On the evening of 16 November, the conference opening and gala evening took place at the Liechtenstein Palace in Prague. Among the distinguished speakers were Mr. Miloš Vystrčil, Chairman of the Senate of the Czech Republic, Mrs. Sviatlana Tsichanovskaya, National Leader of Belarus, Mr. Jan Kalous, Director of the Twentieth Century Memorial Museum, Mr. Ladislav Kudrna, Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and Mr. Marek Mutor, President of the PEMC. The PEMC Award for 2021 was presented to the International Memorial and its representative Mr. Boris Belenkin. The event was accompanied by top jazz musicians led by Mr. Milan Svoboda.
International Memorial receives Prize of the Platform in Prague