Opening Plenary 2026
26 May 2026 | 15:00 - 15:45 CEST | Main Auditorium
Consolidated programme 2026
Working title: Safeguarding European Democracy and its Digital Public Sphere
Proposals: (#8), #15, #27, #28, #29, #37, #42, #43
Democracy depends, to a large extent, on the soundness of its supporting public sphere. In Europe, democracy is increasingly mediated by digital information ecosystems. They are strongly affected by opportunities and challenges created by rapid technological developments. Whether they are used to revitalize democratic processes by increasing citizens’ engagement, or to paralyze them by eroding public trust, is influenced by economic and political considerations, largely outside Europe.
The opening session focuses on how to safeguard the integrity and functioning of the European digital public sphere. In particular, the session will highlight tools supporting the protection of democracy in the digital sphere, for instance for ensuring media and social media pluralism and their ability to adequately cover elections and other democratic processes, for addressing disinformation or information bubbles and for countering foreign information manipulation and interference campaigns . It will also highlight the mechanisms through which Europe can protect and preserve its regulatory achievements in the current challenging geopolitical landscape.
Session description
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Format
Please try out new interactive formats. EuroDIG is about dialogue not about statements, presentations and speeches.
Further reading
Links to relevant websites, declarations, books, documents. Please note we cannot offer web space, so only links to external resources are possible. Example for an external link: Main page of EuroDIG
People
Please provide the name and affiliation/institution of all people you list here like this:
- First Name Last Name, Affiliation/institution
Programme Committee member(s)
The Programme Committee (PC) supports the programme planning process throughout the year and works closely with the Secretariat. Members of the PC give advice on the topics, cluster the proposals and assist session organisers in their work. They also ensure that session principles are followed and monitor the complete programme to avoid repetition. 1-2 PC members have signed up to each session and will compile the messages.
Focal Point
Focal Points take over the responsibility and lead of the session organisation. They work in close cooperation with the Programme Committee and the EuroDIG Secretariat and are kindly requested to follow EuroDIG’s session principles
Organising Team (Org Team)
List Org Team members here as they sign up.
The Org Team is a group of people shaping the session. Org Teams are open and every interested individual can become a member by subscribing to the mailing list.
Key Participants
Key Participants are experts willing to provide their knowledge during a session – not necessarily on stage. Key Participants should contribute to the session planning process and keep statements short and punchy during the session. They will be selected and assigned by the Org Team, ensuring a stakeholder balanced dialogue also considering gender and geographical balance. Please provide short CV’s of the Key Participants involved in your session at the Wiki or link to another source.
Messages
The Programme Committee is responsible for taking notes during the session and to formulate 3 (max. 5) bullet points that are presented at the end of each session. The audience shall agree on the messages in (rough) consensus.
Messages should:
- reflect the discussion in the particular session
- relate to European Internet governance policy
- be forward looking and propose goals and activities
Video record
Will be provided here after the event.
Transcript
Will be provided here after the event.