Leonel Fernández Hosts Club of Madrid Meeting on Global Democracy

The future of democracy, how to promote youth participation in political processes and decision making, and the best ways to drive the effective exchange of ideas between new generations and the ones currently in power were just some of the principal topics of interest in today’s encounter between nine former presidents and prime ministers, all members of the Club of Madrid, and five young leaders selected by the Anna Lindh Foundation from within their Young
Mediterranean Voices program.

The encounter took place in the New York headquarters of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and was presided over by the former President of the Dominican Republic and current member of the Club of Madrid, Dr. Leonel Fernández.

The encounter’s stated objectives were to guarantee a diversity of perspectives and plurality of opinions. To that end, the roster of former presidents attending from the Club of Madrid spanned the world: the Americas were
represented by Presidents Fernández, Luís Alberto Lacalle (Uruguay), and Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica); Asia and Oceania by Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd (Australia) and Helen Clark (New Zealand); Africa by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali (Tunisia); and Europe by Presidents Zlatko Lagumdžija (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Aleksander Kwaśniewski (Poland) and Danilo Türk (Slovenia).

As for the young leaders, both Europe and the Mediterranean were well-represented through the
participation of Manal Benani (Algeria), Murray Hawthorne (United Kingdom), Anas Talalqa (Jordan), Sophie Schriever (Germany) and Sara Alhouni (Libya).

The one-hour dialogue placed its main focus on questions from the young leaders, which were directed openly to the Club of Madrid members without any type of intermediation.

Fernández, the day’s host, advised the leaders to speak frankly to the former presidents and prime ministers and to
provide specific and practical ideas on how to improve democracy in each of their countries and regions. He also asked them to strive to combine their needs for self-confirmation of their own identities with respect for diversity, the basis of any democracy.

Nationalism, populism, and the wave of skepticism that has advanced over democratic societies around the world also made a showing during the inter-generational dialogue. Concerning how to stop its advance, former
Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zlatko Lagumdžija, stated that “Today’s world gives us a million reasons to be skeptics and two million to be pessimists. Don’t let yourselves slide down that slope.”

About the World Leadership Alliance Club of Madrid:
The Club of Madrid is the world’s largest forum of former democratic presidents and prime ministers dedicated to addressing issues of
national democratic government, transnational governance and collective action on issues of the global commons. The Club of Madrid’s primary asset is its membership, which includes over 110 distinguished former heads of state and government of democratic nations. Its members offer their experience, time and gravitas pro bono. The members of the World Leadership Alliance-Club of Madrid are all democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world. Since they are no
longer in office, they now represent their personal leadership experience and commitment and not their countries or parties, and are therefore freer to share their experiences while still keenly aware of the pressures and problems faced by today’s leaders.

About Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD):
The Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD), sister organization of Funglode in the United States, is
a non-partisan and non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of collaboration between organizations in the United States and the Dominican Republic in order to conduct research, enhance public debate, design public policy, propose strategies and provide training to facilitate change in crucial areas of the social, economic and democratic development of the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean and Latin America.

More information:
www.clubmadrid.org