Over the course of the six days, the summer academy featured some 20 workshops and 30 panel discussions, with an impressive number of trainers, panelists, facilitators and artists from both Hungary and Europe at large. About 250 participants, of all ages, attended, as well as an impressive amount of young children for whom a special environmental education programme was provided.  

Each day was structured to allow a maximum of diversity and choice for the participants. Every time slot offered several parallel panel discussions, seminars (on how to write a political speech or how to be a Green activist) or skills workshops (from Hungarian dancing, to fixing your bike and making your own jewelry from scratch). Film screenings and concerts complemented the artistic program each evening. 

Main topics discussed

The summer academy touched upon a large number of issues, including corruption in Central and Eastern Europe, the euro-zone crisis, the raise of the populist right and left, environmentally friendly agriculture, renewable energy and energy efficiency, precarity, Europe’s brain drain, direct democracy and the European Citizens’ Initiative and basic income. Central and Eastern European examples were primarily discussed, in an attempt to find responses to the institutionalised corruption, to identify whether any regional response can be given to the current socio-economic crisis that is heavily impacting on most of the region and to point to good practices in various fields.   

The summer academy represented a good opportunity to allow green ideas to develop, flourish and to be tested in an open and friendly atmosphere. The organisers plan to open even more to countries in Central and Eastern Europe in the upcoming years, a clear goal being increasing the number of participants from outside Hungary.