Commission Vice-President Jourová gives lecture for RECONNECT project on upholding democracy and the rule of law

European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourová shared insights into the Commission’s recent efforts to defend democracy and the rule of law in an online lecture “Towards a Stronger EU. Democratic Resilience and Rule of Law” she gave for the RECONNECT project on 2 February. 

2020 has been transformative for our societies, and democracy is no exception. The pandemic has accelerated and transformed the challenges of disinformation and the growing polarisation of society, which erode the rule of law and other fundamental values. In response to this,  the Commission has enhanced its efforts to protect our founding values.

In her lecture, Vice-President Jourová underlined the important role researchers can play in the design of evidence-based policy. “They can help to understand the drivers for extremism, polarisation, disinformation, and the role of media and digital technologies in this,” VP Jourová said, adding that the EU’s next Research and Innovation framework programme, Horizon Europe, will continue the work of the current Horizon 2020 programme in supporting research in that field. Vice-President Jourová described the RECONNECT project as ‘inspirational’ and indicated that she follows closely its output. She also highlighted that “active engagement of citizens is the essence of democracy”. A statement later confirmed in the extensive live Q&A session that followed the lecture; Vice-President Jourová took the opportunity to engage directly with the audience of around 400 participants, made up of citizens, researchers and practitioners.

Read the full transcript from Vice-President Jourova’s full lecture.

The Vice-President’s lecture is part of a series of conferences, lectures, policy roundtables and workshops, organised by the RECONNECT project to provide a forum for debate on the topics of democracy and the rule of law in Europe.

The project, whose full name is “Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law”, is funded by EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and is managed by the Research Executive Agency (REA). Lead by the University of Leuven, the project brings together 18 academic partner institutions from 14 countries.  RECONNECT aims to understand and provide solutions to the recent crises faced by the European Union – from the most flagrant cases of democratic backsliding, to the more complex waning of trust between the EU and its citizens. A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Rule of Law and Democracy in Europe is spearheading the project’s efforts to contribute to reconnecting citizens to the EU and strengthening civil society through education.