Building Resilience Through Values
Friday, 24 April
15:00 – 16:30
Room: Zinneke
How can we make European democracies more resilient against military aggression, hybrid warfare, and ecological disruption? The GEF report New Idealism for a Disrupted Europe draws lessons from Ukraine and the Eastern frontline states that are among its staunchest allies. It advocates a comprehensive approach to security that is both values-driven and taboo-breaking. In this session, we discuss the report’s recommendations and invite you to come up with your own ideas for crisis-proofing our societies.
Speakers
Agnese Lāce, Latvia Minister of Culture; co-chair of PROGRESĪVIE
Agnese Lāce is the Minister for Culture of the Republic of Latvia and Co-Chair of the political party The Progressives. She has served as Minister since June 2024. Agnese holds advanced degrees in Political Science and International Migration from prestigious institutions across Europe. She has worked extensively in migration and integration policy research and has been actively engaged in civil society initiatives and international cooperation projects. Her professional background includes policy development, research and advisory work on migration, integration and social cohesion at the European level.
Gabriela Svárovská, MP, Co-Chair, Zelení
Gabriela Svárovská has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament since October 2025. In the parliament she serves as a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee on Environment. She is a Co-Chair of the Czech Green Party. Ms Svárovská has extensive experience in diplomacy, human rights, and civil society. She previously served as the Director of the Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and held key political roles as Press Secretary to President Václav Havel and Advisor to Senator Marek Hilšer. In the non-profit sector, she co-founded the Prague Civil Society Centre, an endowment fund dedicated to supporting civic activism and independent media across the countries of the former Soviet Union. Her career has been defined by a commitment to democratic values, international security, and the protection of universal human rights.
Atte Harjanne, MP Finnish Greens (Vihreä liitto)
Atte Harjanne is a Member of Parliament in Finland representing the Green Party. In Parliament, he has focused on energy, security, technology and economic affairs. Harjanne served as Vice Chair of the Green Party of Finland from 2021 to 2023 and chaired the Green Parliamentary Group from 2021 to 2024. Before his career as a parliamentarian Harjanne worked as a researcher studying impacts of climate change. Harjanne holds the rank of captain the Finnish Defence Forces reserve.
Richard Wouters, Researcher, Wetenschappelijk Bureau GroenLinks
Richard Wouters is a project lead at Wetenschappelijk Bureau GroenLinks, the think tank of the Dutch Green party. He is the editor and co-author of various GEF publications, including ‘Geopolitics of a Post-Growth Europe’ and ‘New Idealism for a Disrupted Europe’.
Liza Bezvershenko, Independent Civil Society & Advocacy Specialist
Liza Bezvershenko is a Ukrainian civil society expert based in Brussels, specialising in EU-Ukraine relations, European integration, and democracy promotion. She acts as Advocacy Coordinator at the NGO European Resolve, where she contributes to European security and democratic resilience by advancing research, fostering dialogue between civil society, decision-makers, and research institutions, and supporting public engagement through awareness-raising initiatives.
She is a recipient of the 2024 Young Diplomat Award and has been repeatedly featured in international media as a recognised voice for Ukraine in Brussels.
Co-Moderator: Joanna Kaminska, Mediation and Dialogue expert, European Parliament, European Green Party Committee
Joanna Kaminska has facilitated confidential, high stake dialogue between political party leaders, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe and advised on security and democracy building Europe’s top decision-makers for over 15 years. She has served as foreign and security policy advisor to the President of the European Parliament David Maria Sassoli, and worked on coalition making and consensus building between European political forces for over a decade in the area of security and defence. Political negotiations, democracy building and fostering dialogue between difficult political personalities are her passion. Currently she works as an advisor on mediation at the European Parliament’s mediation team, where she forges the culture of compromise between political parties in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine during the war.
Joanna holds a PhD from the University of London, Royal Holloway College. She has extensively published on the foreign and security policy and Eastern neighborhood issues. Her last book published with Palgrave Macmillan is entitled Poland and the EU Enlargement: Foreign Policy in Transformation.
Between 2018-2024 she was also a Brussels municipal council member. Since 2021 she is a National Council member of the Polish Green Party Zieloni. In December 2024 she got elected to the European Green Party (EGP) committee, political body managing green parties in Europe, where she is responsible for building security and defense narratives.
Co-Moderator: Tomas Tomilinas, MP Democrats for Lithuania
Over the years, Tomas Tomilinas has worked to advance social reforms, reduce poverty, and improve climate policy. Lithuania has made major investments in green energy and stopped a nuclear project in 2012. Tomilinas was one of the leaders of the referendum campaign against that nuclear power plant, and later served twice in the ruling coalition. He was elected as member of the Committee of the European Green Party in 2025. Back in 2021, he was expelled from his former party for voting in favour of LGBTQ+ rights in Parliament and that resulting in the creation of the Democtrats party,a proud member of the European Green Party. As Vice-Chair of the Party and vice-chair of the Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs, he works hard to change the country’s position on EU decision-making reform, including ending the single-country veto. He’s author of numerous social projects and initiatives, articles and three books; he’s a consultant for trade unions, specialist of adult education and co-founder of the NGO Social Investment Management Centre and political think tank Institute for Democracy (2023) and other organisations. He ha also worked as coordinator of party working groups for preparation of electoral programmes (2012, 2016, 2020, 2024) and was co-initiator of the establishment of trade unions in retail chains (2007).
