Event

21st-24th September 2022

Think Tank Central: Defending Freedom Conference

Tallinn, Estonia

Hilton Tallinn Park
F. R. Kreutzwaldi 23, 10147 Tallinn, Estonia

The war in Ukraine has once against highlighted the need to defend freedom in Europe and around the world. The need to create a strong pro-freedom movement to defend our values has never been more obvious, as we face growing threats the rules-based world order. As we enter what some call the New Cold War, we must do everything we can to unite around the defence of Freedom.

Join us in Tallinn, Estonia from the 21-24 September as we bring together the largest collection of think tanks, foundations, and liberty loving academics for a conference on building a stronger Freedom Movement.

Agenda

Wednesday, 21st September Thursday, 22nd September Friday, 23rd September

Wednesday, 21st September
Thursday, 22nd September
Friday, 23rd September

Leadership Institute

Think Tank Training Day

10:00 - 11:00

First Session

Think Tanks and Lawmakers

Rick Tyler

11:00 - 11:15

Coffee Break

11:15 - 12:15

Second Session

Strategic Communications and Messaging

Ron Nehring

12:15 - 13:45

Lunch

13:45 - 14:45

Third Session

Online Branding

Stephen Rowe

14:45 - 15:00

Coffee Break

15:00 - 16:00

Fourth Session

Fundraising

Steve Sutton

17:00

Welcome Cocktail

9:00

Welcome remarks

Tomasz Poręba, President of New Direction

9:10

Keynote Speech

Profesor Ryszard Legutko, Chairman of ECR Group

9:30

Presentation

Understanding the Threat to Freedom

Joseph Humire, Center for a Secure Free Society

9:50

Panel #1

The Current State of the West

War, Political Division, Economic Turmoil – the West is facing a generational combination of crises. From the fall out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to the rising cost of living – the West has found itself stuck for answers. In order to start finding solutions we need to better understand the difficulties we face together.

Jospeh Humire, Center for a Secure Feee Society
Dániel Horogszegi Szilágyi-Landeck, Head of Brussels Office at the Foundation for a Civic Hungary
Dr. Farid Shafiyev, Chairman of the AIR Center
Iain Martin, CEO and Publisher of Reaction and columnit at The Times

10:40

Coffee Break

11:00

Panel #2

The Global Freedom Movement

Around the world, conservative movements are facing similar issues – increasing inflation, the rising cost of living, cultural challenges, and political instability. What can pro-freedom organisations learn from each other, and how should they best coordinate their efforts around the world to face these challenges.

Mike Gonzalez, Senior Fellow at Heritage Foundation
Hiroaki “Jay” Aeba,Chair of the Japanese Conservative Union
István Kovács, Strategic Director at the Center for Fundamental Rights
Réka Szemerkényi, Senior Advisor, Transatlantic Strategy, IRI

12:00

Coalition Lunch meeting with Americans for Tax Reform

13:30

Breakout session // Room #1

The Middle East after the Abraham Accords

The Abraham Accords paved the way for lasting peace in the Middle East – with the countries of the Gulf and Israel signing historic agreements on economic cooperation and diplomatic relations.

Thomas Clowes-Pritchard, Director of Outreach at Pinsker Centre
Thomas Kira, Director of Research at Henry Jackson Society
Mitchell Belfer, President of the Euro-Gulf Information Centre
Ron Nehring, Leadership Institute

Breakout session // Room #2

The Future of the Free Media in Europe

The Free Press is a cornerstone of a free society – yet in many countries it is coming under pressure. What can we do to preserve media pluralism in Europe?

Jorge González-Gallarza, Fundación Civismo & Co-host of the Uncommon Decency podcast
Boris Kalnoky, Head of the School, Media school, MCC
Mario Fantini, Editor-in-Chief of The European Conservative
Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, Journalist - The Telegraph

14:30

Coffee Break

15:00

Panel #3

The Philosophy of Freedom

What does it mean to be free? What cultural underpinnings are required to live in a free society? Is freedom a universal concept? Are liberalism and conservatism competing or complementary ideas? These deep questions are key to finding the answers that the freedom movement needs to grow in Europe and beyond.

Radek Fogiel, Vice President of ECR Party
Barbara Kolm, Vice President of the Austrian Central Bank and Director of the Austrian Economics Center
Jakob Söderbaum, Master of Laws, Author and member of the Advisory Board of the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation
Pieter Cleppe, Founder and Editor at Brussels Report

16:00

Panel #4

The Enemies of Freedom

Europe and the West face numerous threats – from Russian aggression in Central and Eastern Europe, to the proxy wars fought by Iran in the Middle East and Beyond, or from the expansion of Chinese influence around the world, to the organisation of authoritarian socialist states in Latin America. In order to defend freedom, we must understand our rivals, and how they work together.

Harry Nedelcu, Director of Policy and Business Development at Rasmussen Global
James Carafano, Vice President at Heritage Foundation
General Riho Terras, Member of the European Parliament
Otto Tabuns, Director of Baltic Security Foundation

17:00

End of the first day

18:00

Departure from the hotel

18:15

Family photo and Coktail Reception

19:00

Margaret Thatcher Dinner

After Dinner Speech delivered by:

Oleksiy Goncherneko - Member of Parliament for Odessa

10:00

Panel #5

The war on Woke - Keeping European campuses free

The battle for academic freedom has intensified in recent years, with conservative and liberal thinkers being driven off university campuses. How do we defend the freedom to think freely?

Stephen Bartulica, Founder and President of the Center for the Renewal of Culture and associate professor of political philosophy at the Catholic University of Croatia in Zagreb
David Engels, Instytut Zachodni in Poznań
Rodrigo Ballester, Head of the Centre for European Studies at Mathias Corvinus Collegium
Ignasi Grau, Director General at OIEDEL

11:00

Coffee break

11:30

Breakout session // Room #1

Freedom for Future Generations

Why should the next generation believe in freedom? How can a free society benefit them? And what is the best way to reach out to future generations? Our youth panel explores.

Haakon Teig, Editor of the Foniks magazine and Vice Chair of FAKS
Arvid Hallén, Program Director at OIKOS
Maria Cholewińska, Promyk Institute
Magnus Gunnarsson, Centre for Social and Economic Research
Tamar Tarsaidze, Students For Liberty

Breakout session // Room #2

Economic Freedom and Choice

Economic freedom is the cornerstone of prosperity in Europe and the western world – and yet it is under threat from high inflation, rising prices, and state intervention. How can we defend economic freedom in Europe?

Elmars Kehris, Executive Director, Latvian Economists Association
Lorenzo Montanari, Vice President International Affairs - Americans for Tax Reform
Adam Bartha, Director, Epicenter
Neven Vidakovic, Professor of Economics University of Zagreb
José Ramón Riera, Economist, Posmodernia

12:30

Lunch

13:30

The Big Freedom Debate

Libertarian? Classical Liberal? National Conservative? Christian Democrat? Are these all unique ideologies, or are they all part of the same broader movement? In the Big Freedom Debate we pitch self-identifying members of each of these factions against each other to find out where they agree and disagree.

Federico Ottavio Reho, Strategic Coordinator and Senior Research Officer
Anna Wellisz, VP for External Affairs of the Edmund Burke Foundation
John O’Sullivan, President of Danube Institute and former speechwriter for Margaret Thatcher
Hannes Gissurarson, Professor of political science at the University of Iceland
Jorge González-Gallarza, Fundación Civismo & Co-host of the Uncommon Decency podcast

14:30

Coffee Break

14:50

Panel #6

Think Tanks in the Fight for Freedom

Think Tanks have an important role to play in the fight to defend freedom. But what can they do to support each other, and how can they better work together?

Juan Soto, International Director at Disenso
Marko Milanovic Litre, Vice President of New Direction
Stefan Aćimović, European Programs Director at Students For Liberty
Rick Tyler, Leadership Institute

15:50

Panel #7

What Next for Freedom in Europe?

Our panel looks back over the conference and discuss how the freedom movement should move on in the years to come.

Réka Szemerkényi, Senior Advisor, Transatlantic Strategy, IRI
John O’Sullivan, President of Danube Institute and former speechwriter for Margaret Thatcher
Barbara Kolm, Vice President of the Austrian Central Bank and Director of the Austrian Economics Center
Robert Tyler, Senior Policy Advisor at New Direction

17:10

Closing Cocktail

Media

New Direction is registered in Belgium as a not-for-profit organisation and is partly funded by the European Parliament. The European Parliament and New Direction assume no responsibility for the opinions expressed in this publication. Sole responsibility lies with the individual authors.