With the participation of Catalan philosophers, authors and politicians, such as ex-presidents of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Jordi Pujol and Pasqual Maragall.
For an open Europe:
European societies moving
towards new identities
Over the last years it has become a tradition
for the Guest Country at the Book
Fair to organize an International Symposium
at the Frankfurt City Hall during
the weekend prior to the Book Fair. This
year the theme chosen is the new landscape
created by the European integration process,
with the aim of presenting European
regions as new actors of international relations.
In this context, the peculiarities of
Catalonia as an European region will
be also presented. Catalan speakers will
discuss these questions with speakers from
Germany and other European countries.
On Sunday morning there will be a session
on the writer's role in the political
arena, devoted to the memory of the Russian
journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
6 October
9.30 Greetings from the
City of Frankfurt:
Her Ladyship, the Mayor
of Frankfurt, Petra Roth
The challenges of
European unity
First Speaker:
Jordi Pujol, ex-president of
the Generalitat de Catalunya
Second Speaker:
Zafer Senocak, author, Berlin
10.30 Coffee break
11.00 -12.30 Regionalism and
the nation state as
European constitutional
elements and divide?
Chair:
Matthias Dembinski, Political
Science, Peace Research
Institute, Frankfurt
Introductory speaker:
Ferran Requejo, Professor of
Political Science, Catalonia
Discussants:
D~evad Karahasan,
writer, Bosnia
Neal Ascherson, journalist
and writer, Scotland
12.30 Lunch break
14.30 - 16.00 The political process as
obstacle for change?
Chair:
Jordi Porta, director of
Omnium Cultural, Catalonia
Introductory speaker:
Montserrat Guibernau,
professor of Political Science,
London / Catalonia
Speakers:
Denis MacShane, Member of
Parliament, United Kingdom
Isidor Mar�, scholar, Catalonia
Discussant:
Arthur Benz,
professor of Political Science,
Open University of Hagen
16.30 - 18.00 Waiting for Europe in
the East, Good bye to
Europe in the West?
Chair:
Joscha Schmierer,
political analyst, Berlin
Introductory speaker:
Antoni Segura, professor
of History, Catalonia
Discussants:
Philippe Legrain, journalist
and scholar, UK
Pedro Ibarra, professor
of Political Science,
Basque country
Ivaylo Ditchev, professor of
Cultural Anthropology, Bulgaria
18.30 Reception by the
City of Frankfurt
Venue: Emperors Hall
(Under invitation only)
7 October
9.00 - 10.30 The writer and the
political arena
Homage to Anna
Politkovskaya on the first
anniversary of her murder
Co-organized and cohosted
by Institut Ramon
Llull, German PEN Centre,
Catalan PEN Centre, and
Austrian PEN Centre.
Chair:
Carles Torner, Institut
Ramon Llull, Catalonia
Speakers:
Victor Jarofejew, writer, Russia
Eugene Schoulgin, writer,
International Secretary
of PEN International
Johano Strasser,
German PEN Centre
Ada Castells, writer,
Catalan PEN Centre
Helmut Stefan Milletich,
Austrian PEN Centre
10.30 Coffee break
11.00 - 12.30 Global players - Europe
and its regions in 2050
Chair:
Harald M�ller, Lecturer
of the Peace Research
Institute, Frankfurt
Introductory speeches:
Pasqual Maragall, ex-president
of the Generalitat de Catalunya
Jacques Rupnik, political
scientist, France
Discussants:
Muriel Casals,
economist, Catalonia
Gisela M�ller-Brandeck-
Bocquet, Professor of Political
Science, University of W�rzburg
12.30 - 13.00 Vote of thanks
and farewell:
Juergen Boos, Director of
the Frankfurt Book Fair and
Josep Bargall�, Director of
the Institut Ramon Llull