From 18 to 20 November twenty two young political and civic leaders from the National Program 2015 of the Bulgarian School of Politics took part in the World Forum for Democracy in Strasburg. The event was entitled “Freedom vs. Control for a democratic response” and was organized by the Council of Europe.

Over 500 representatives of the Network of the Schools of Political Studies under the auspices of the Council of Europe, among them Russia, Georgia, Moldova, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Romania, Armenia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Albania, Belarus, Tunisia, Morocco, Greece, Turkey and the Visegrad School, participated in the Forum.

The forum began with a minute of silence in memory of victims of terrorist attacks in Paris. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland delivered the opening speech. The discussions in the different labs were focused on the balance between increased security measures and the personal liberties.

In parallel with the Forum’s program, there was a series of events of the Network of the Schools of Political Studies at the Council of Europe. The participants from the Bulgarian School participated in a meeting with their colleagues from the Macedonian School of Public Policies  and they discussed the problems of Bulgaria and Macedonia with the refugees wave.

The participants from the Bulgarian School visited the European Court of Human Rights and met the Bulgarian judge Mr. Yonko Grozev. They also had a meeting with the Permanent Representative for Bulgaria in the Council of Europe Ms. Katya Todorova, who presented the Bulgarian priorities for the Presidency of Coincil of Europe.

During their visit in Strasbourg, the representatives of the Bulgarian School of Politics offered flowers to the memorial bust of Dimitar Peshev, which is located in the building of the Council of Europe. In this way, they commemorated his contribution for saving 50 thousands Bulgarian Jews during the Second World War.