 Hello, good afternoon everybody, good afternoon, good afternoon to all of you. Welcome to the University of Barcelona. Welcome, welcome to UB, University of Barcelona. Here for the opening of this conference. I'll give you the floor to Dr. Montserrat Puig, Vice President of this University. Thank you and welcome and thanks to be here with us. Thank you. Good afternoon, good afternoon, good afternoon. Before anything else, I would like to thank the European Network and the European Observatory on Memories, Eurom of the UB Foundation. Thanks for having chosen Barcelona and the UB to host your symposiums that have been taking place successfully here in Barcelona. It is a source of proud as the Deputy President for Equality and Gender to chair this international gathering here at home at the University of Barcelona. I would like to thank all the participants for your attendance, more especially those of you coming from abroad. Thanks for coming all the way to Barcelona, thanks for being here. I am sure you're going to be enjoying three fruitful days. The two organizing entities have decided to organize these sessions around two main topics, Solidarity and Resistance. The foundation, chaired by Xavier Lopez, has a solidarity-based commitment with societies suffering war. An example of the previous is the program that aims at supporting refugees from Syria and other parts of the world, such as the Ukraine in the present. Of course, solidarity-based engagement is one of the pillars of the UB and so is memory, remembrance, resistance. With the European Observatory chaired by Dr. Guichet, we have carried out an important task, which is remembering that democracy cannot be given for granted. For example, in our country here in Spain, we had to resist and struggle against the Franco dictatorship in order to enjoy the freedoms and rights that we enjoy today. Today, we can and we must celebrate our Europeans and this symposium is the result of our willingness of working together, the Western European and Eastern European networks. I believe today is a very timely day, 9th of May, the day of Europe. 73 years ago, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Schumann, pronounced the declaration that put forward the European community of cool, which is the President of the European Union and one of the paragraphs reads, Europe will not happen from one day to the next. Europe will be possible thanks to specific realizations that put forward solidarity, de facto solidarity. Solidarity is one of the pillars of the European Union, so it is joined, tasked by Euroman Reims, chaired by Rafael Robonski, who is with us today, is a proof of the previous, this collaboration between East and West to share different historic realities to debate essential matters such as solidarity and resistance in different countries, to debate essential topics such as solidarity and resistance in different countries like Spain, Poland and other countries represented here. In difficult times like the ones we experienced today, in which not only the European project has an opposition, but also democracy, it is important to celebrate symposiums like the one that we inaugurate here today, with a deep reflection about how we got here and how we can better understand the tools to build a better future. Welcome to the University of Barcelona, which is the home of knowledge, debate, research and discussion. I hope that today's seminar are a living example of the previous. Thank you very much once again for your attendance. Thank you, Dr. Puig. I would like to echo Dr. Puig's remarks. Deputy President of UB, it is an honor and a pleasure from the European Observatory on Memories. Well, this afternoon, we have been part of this project for more than ten years, as well as on RS. When we met in 2013-2014, we thought that we would have a long-term collaboration, so they win-win a scenario with different trans-European networks, 50 partners in more than 20 countries from the north, from the south, from the east and from the west of Europe with different experiences, local experiences, but also at a global level and an international level, so we would like to congratulate ourselves. Last year, we celebrated the taking of the stock and the yearly symposium, and we engaged with Mr. Rudolsky last year with Constance, also, from the European Home of History. Welcome. So we decided to choose a very global topic last year. We focused on digital networks. We remember their colleagues from different parts of Spain and different autonomous regions and universities. It is important to understand and to remember that quite recently the new bill on democratic memory was passed here in Spain only quite recently and in the Catalan Parliament beyond certain amendments presented by civil society organizations. We are now in the process of approving a bill, a Catalan bill to improve the bill from 2007 and a bill from 2007, the Spanish bill on democratic memory because at the end of the day democratic memory urges democratic society to rethink reality. This is what history is about and what historians' task is about, right? Now, it's all about sharing here in the present many of the atrocities and crimes from the past so that society grows in terms of knowledge, even if, as I said before, the complexity of violence were uncontemporary societies remind us that we never learn enough from history we are surrounded by historians all around Europe and I am sure we're going to be digging into this debate. These days we'll speak about history, of course, but also about memory and we'll have visits to memory spaces like the Modelo Jail here in Barcelona. Last year we already celebrated the session there with a team of UNRS, we decided to celebrate this gathering here and we did so with a hope that the networking not only with our partners but also at an international level I am sure that this is the most fruitful part of this symposium I am sure that other countries, another member state should learn how to better network and this is why I am very proud to be here with you and that's why I welcome you here and I would like to thank you B for hosting us. I still remember one of the projects in which we participated, a project led by the UNRS, a transport project with different additions about the Earth, we participated in the 2016 meeting and we knew that the relationship between networks would be extremely fruitful. We're not alone the UB supports us and since 2012 we are very well hosted within the Foundation for Solidarity of the UB. The concept of the Solidarity Foundation and the cooperation foundation are also in the DNA of this year's session, resistance and solidarity which is more timely than ever. I don't want to forget any important item I would like to thank the interpreters I'm going to switch into Catalan now thanks to the interpreters for their work as well as the technicians and the rest of the team. In a very emblematic day like today let me remind you that we chose these dates even if this week is a quite busy week in the field of European memory and the day of Europe we decided to choose these dates. An example of what I mentioned can be seen in the whole of this university. There is an exhibition about women founders of the European Union, the deputy president before mentioned Robert Schumann and sometimes we forget about women even if women are, I mean there have been very important women in the process of building the European Union but they go unnoticed, they go unvisibilized and this is why we have organized this exhibition in partnership with the office for the European Commission. I hope I'm not missing an important item I would like to acknowledge the team of NRS Rafaela, thank you very much Maria, Dica, Alexandra, Antonia and all the NRS team Magdalena Ursula, our team from the observatory as the director of the observatory Clicard, Conesa, Pao, Fernanda and I hope I'm not leaving anyone behind Andrea, Angels and as I said before I would like to thank Silvia Pala for her work and for her effort I would like to conclude by think about resistance and solidarity and I would like to conclude by sharing the message it was not necessarily the European Union but back in 1971 in the headquarters of the United Nations someone who has been an MP, Maria Badia and who today chairs the Pao Casals Foundation an international foundation with a new mandate with the presidents of Maria well, in collaboration with this foundation we have signed a manifesto by the way they will be a celebration in the headquarters of the Pao Van Drill solidarity in favor of Europe Pao Casals who never came back from exile from France because here there was a dictatorship the Franco dictatorship and he said while there's no freedom in Spain I will never be back in the first session of the United Nations in 1971 and beyond echoing this manifesto I would like to remember Pao Casals' remarks and not mine Pao Casals is today more timely than ever he said in 1971 something which is still about it today he said that the most powerful nations have the duty and the responsibility to preserve peace I trust that societies desire the understanding and the cooperation between men and women it's about time that governments and those who hold power start working so that this desire does not become impossible he said so in New York back in 1971 thank you very much for your assistance and I am sure that this symposium will be fruitful and thought-provoking thank you very much and now I would like to hand it over to Madame Anna Gallego Torres by the way I would like to once again thank her for her online participation and fortunately she can join us we invited her to attend the session but unfortunately she could not attend the session physically so she will address us through a video she's a DG for Justice of the European Commission where new programs new programs on citizenship equality our team are let's say hosted and the remembrance programs also depend on the DG for Justice of the European Union so they are our partners once again thank you very much and let's share the... Buenos dias de Bruselas it is an honour for me to address this audience today and I am grateful for being able to do it at least virtually as the Council of Justice Ministers is in place right now each year at this event the European Network for Remembrance and Solidarity and this time together with the European Observatory of Memories reminds us of why memory matters I find this an important moment to reflect on what our duty is and in my case what the duty of the European Union is in understanding and preserving memory including of past and contemporary conflicts over a year ago the idea of conflict became more real to all of us in the European Union when in February 2022 Russia embarked on its unjustified war of aggression in Ukraine we are seeing many attempts by Russia to distort history and we must push back with evidence-based research and remembrance which we support in the European Remembrance Funding Strand In 2019 President Sanchez gave a memorable line La España actual es fruto del perdón pero no puede ser producto del olvido modern Spain is the result of forgiveness but it can't be the result of oblivion this encapsulates the duality of collective memory a nation cannot forget its past no matter how complicated or difficult the past might be this year your event is dedicated to solidarity and resistance topic Solidarity is crucial in preserving a nation's memory and this is why the European Commission has been a long-time supporter of this process in member states we have supported the Council of Europe's Observatory on History teaching in Europe with over 1 million euro today we are increasing our funding for projects on European Remembrance this year after tripling it the year before there are 10 million euro available now and I strongly encourage applications let me remind you that the deadline is the 5th of July with regards to resistance there is one area which requires specific attention namely the rising challenges to democracy and historical distortion regardless of political views we must all resist against this memory can never be a substitute for truth I hope the Commission will be able to fund projects also on this topic in July Spain will take over the presidency of the European Union Council and I believe there is a lot to be learned from their experience of memory preservation and fighting historical distortion for example from Spain's work on the new Ley de Memoria Democrática to come back to President Santos's words like modern Spain the European Union is also a product of forgiveness like modern Spain we cannot become a product of oblivion either the floor is yours Mrs. Vice President Mr. Director, Diljordi members of Diplomatic Corps dear ENRS assemblies members ladies and gentlemen it is always good to be in Barcelona especially in May and especially in such beautiful place like university thank you for this possibility to be here I will start with some reflections about the title of today's this year's symposium and then we'll continue with some thanks words and short introduction to the to the next point of our and main point of our today's meeting the discussion which will take place afterwards solidarity means bond this is the shortest possible definition of the word solidarity it derives from the Latin solidus strong, durable in relation to a person reliable and trustworthy first summer in the 17th century it functioned and still functions in the legal and financial world in relation to join responsibility for any kind of obligation then in the 19th century the term solidarity began to be used in social and political discourse to emphasize the importance of bonds in opposition to conflict and so it is to this day solidarity means bond is also the title of an excellent essay by Professor Zbigniew Stawrowski an outstanding Polish philosopher closely associated with the Polish opposition social movement of the 1980s the movement which took the name solidarity solidarity quickly became a symbol for the whole world a symbol of resistance to communist oppression a last at least successful often and by many perceived in terms of a miracle resistance is also a multi-dimensional concept but unlike solidarity it has a negative connotation as well resistance both in physics and in social sciences is always associated with objection to the impact of some kind of force for example power on society or on a single person resistance to totalitarian and authoritarian power is not only a manifestation of the will to fight for freedom the will to fight with oppression such kind of resistance is also and perhaps above all a manifestation of solidarity with those who are subjected to oppression both worlds have a historical dimension but they also refer to the reality of here and now and to our and our children's future and this reference in the context of Russia's attack on Ukraine in the context of social and political changes in Europe and beyond as well as in the context of climate changes is of particular importance for all of us that is why together with European observatory of memories and the Solidarity Foundation of the University of Barcelona the ENRS have created the program of this year's meeting around these two worlds resistance and solidarity Ladies and gentlemen we have invited you to talk about various manifestations of solidarity and resistance also in order to think together about how to present these notions through the projects we organize how to talk about them so that the participants of the or the recipients of our initiatives can learn as much as possible from the beautiful heritage of solidarity and from the history of resistance to oppression for the first time in a long history of the ENRS symposia we are organizing the event in a joint form with another meeting taking stock of European memory policies together with European observatory of memories and the Solidarity Foundation of the University of Barcelona we want to underline that open dialogue of the history of the last century is necessary not only to present different points of view but especially to better understand the present and to protect ourselves from disinformation and manipulation it is and it should be the process which never ends we need to take into account different experiences various sensitivities and existing interpretations we also need meaningful international cooperation and join projects and I hope this three days meeting which we are about to start will be a fruitful and inspiring event exactly for the above mentioned reasons therefore I would like to express my gratitude to Giorgi Gishe and his team Andrea Carrera Bruges Fernanda Zanuzzi, Oriol Lopez and Ricard Conesa for all the work that has been put into our initiative our common initiative also I would like to thank the ENRS team including first of all Maria Naimska who was a coordinator of the this year symposium and some other symposiums in last years and Alexandra Kalinowska, Alika Świderska, Joanna Orłoś, Agnieszka Mazur Orczak Magdalena Żelazowska, Ivona Żelewa, Gabor Dany, Marek Dąbkowski and all other engaged for commitment for your commitment and for dedication I would also like to say thank you to other partners of this event University of Barcelona General Consulate of the Republic of Poland Honorary Consulate of the Czech Republic in Barcelona and Nations Memory Institute in Slovakia I'm also grateful for the ongoing financial support from the governments of the ENRS member countries Poland, Germany, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary without this input our meeting wouldn't be possible the financial support of the ENRS activities including this annual meeting has also been given by the European Union under CERF program so Citizens Equality Rights and Values program last but not least my thank you goes to Barcelona City Council for their support Ladies and gentlemen, dear participants of the 11th European Remembrance Symposium and the 6th edition of Taking Stock of European Memory Policies Thank you for being with us Thank you for coming to Barcelona And now at the end I would let me invite you to the first discussion of today I'm very much looking forward to listening to those who were able to and who knew how to turn their experience from the 70s and 80s of the previous century into the work on the development of democratic societies Carmen Magalon has been involved in the peace movement since the 80s Piotr Naimski was one of the founders of the Workers' Defense Committee established in Poland in 1976 He was then an active member of the Solidarność movement and after the fall of communism in Poland an important government official Michal Żantowski, who as a chair will for sure say more about both participants of the discussion, was active during the Velvet Revolution and later became advisor and spokesman to Waclaw Havel the first president of the independent Czech Republic first Czechoslovakia and then Czech Republic He is a former Czech ambassador to the United States Israel and United Kingdom as well as a former senator of the Czech parliament All three participants of this discussion has proven in their lives that solidarity and resistance can be treated as guidelines in the times of conflict and instability not only on moral grounds but also, if needed in connection to political and economic activities Distinguished speakers, it is an honor for us to have all of you today and the floor is yours Thank you So to close this opening ceremony we welcome the first panel I officially open this symposium, thank you very much