On Tuesday, Dec 7, the Casimir Pulaski Foundation launched its new initiative. The Warsaw Security Forum Democracy Network will be a platform for Central and Eastern European civil society and expert organizations to discuss and develop joint projects.

The WSF Democracy Network is designed to support Casimir Pulaski Foundation’s partners to reach out and inform a broader audience of policy-makers, opinion-shapers, scholars and community leaders about the importance of upholding democratic principles in security policy – particularly in times of security crisis.

Prof. Katarzyna Pisarska – the initiator of the Network says: We are aware that the fight for democracy is closely linked with the current political events and civil society developments. This December President Biden will host the first Summit for Democracy and we want to send a strong signal to his Administration – ‘we are ready to contribute to the process in our Region’.

Twenty representatives of the civil society from Belarus, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine met today online to initiate the project designed to amplify the voice of organizations fighting for the integrity of the democratic process. We have the necessary expertise, we have a group of dedicated individuals and we believe that through close collaboration we can put forward some tangible pledges to fight for democracy in our respective countries, emphasized Prof. Pisarska.

The four priorities set before the Network are:

• to gather like-minded individuals involved in democracy-building and democracy-strengthening projects;
• to share and explore ongoing projects related to strengthening regional democratic resilience;
• to brainstorm and possibly contribute to joint collaborative projects with international organizations;
• to influence the Warsaw Security Forum’s 2022 agenda on democracy-related issues.

The network has been established with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (USA).

The network is comprised of the following individuals:

1. dr Bonikowska Małgorzata        Centre for International Relations, Poland
2. Csepregi Zsolt                              Antall József Knowledge Centre, Hungary
3. Dvořák Tomáš                             Association for International Affairs, Czech Republic
4. Eek-Pajuste Eeva                        Lennart Meri Conference ICDS, Estonia
5. Filip Liliana                                 Political Research Group, Romania
6. Gaidai Daria                                Office of Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine; Institute of World Policy, Ukraine
7. Havlicek Pavel                            Association for International Affairs, Czech Republic
8. Hopko Hanna                             ANTS Network, Ukraine
9. Jenei Andras                               KBA Central European Safety Training and Research Center, Hungary
10. Kaleniuk Daria                           Anticorruption Action Centre, Ukraina
11. Kandrik Matej                            STRATPOL – Strategic Policy Institute, Slovakia
12. Keerbs Andrea                            International Republican Institute, Hungary
13. Khatiashvili Nikoloz                  Parliament of Georgia; GEOCASE; Tbilisi State University, Georgia
14. Kiss Istvan                                   Danube Institute, Hungary
15. Kudzko Alena                              GLOBSEC, Belarus
16. Latushka Pavel                            National Anti-Crisis Management, Belarus
17. Prat Sarka                                     Institute for Politics and Society, Czech Republic
18. Szabo David Jozsef                     Trimarium Institute, Hungary
19. Vdovychenko Victoria               PROTECT, Ukraine
20. Viacorka Franak                         Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarus