ROCKPORT — The 35th Anniversary Camden Conference, EUROPE: Challenged at Home and Abroad, will be held the weekend of February 25 – 27, 2022, and early ticket sales for members have started.

“The 2022 Camden Conference will be unique in our history – a hybrid,” said Camden Conference, in a news release.

All of the speakers and attendees will be in one location, and the Conference will also be live-streamed for those who choose to attend virtually.

The live venue will be the Strom Auditorium at the Camden Hills Regional High School, the largest public meeting site in Midcoast Maine, according to the news release. This spacious venue, at half capacity, will allow approximately 400 people to gather safely together with the speakers and moderator while observing COVID-19 health and safety requirements, according to the Conference.

“The 2022 Conference will be an exceptional weekend experience!” said the news release.

The European Union’s Ambassador to the United States, Stavros Lambrinidis of Greece, will open the Conference with a look at what is on the minds of Europeans, at the values, opportunities and constraints motivating European leaders, and at the state of democracy in Europe. 

Two speakers will offer insights into the challenges facing European nations. Judy Dempsey, an Irish journalist and scholar working in Berlin, will explore the causes and extent of economic and social inequality, the responses to large-scale immigration, the challenges of ethnic, cultural and religious diversity, and threats to the rule of law. Othon Anastasakis of Oxford University will examine Europe’s political landscape, including new leaders, the outlook for rightist and populist movements, and the strategies of countries and groups outside Europe who are meddling in European politics. 

Mark Blyth, a professor at Brown University who is Scottish by birth and now advises the leader of the Scottish National Party, will discuss the outlook for European economies, globalization’s impact on European jobs and industries, and the European Union’s leadership in formalizing rules and regulations for global industries, especially high tech and financial services.

The health and future of the European-US relationship, and what this can mean for security and leadership in global affairs, will be examined by a German and an American speaker. Constanze Stelzenmueller is a scholar at the Brookings Institution; retired General and Ambassador Douglas Lute served as US permanent representative to the NATO Council and on the National Security staff for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 

Mark Leonard, the British director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, will explore how Europe is governed – especially focusing on the role of the European Union in mediating the divergent interests of member states, allocating benefits and obligations, and taking action on the climate crisis.

Europe’s foreign relations and the challenges on Europe’s borders and in other regions of the world – including China, Russia, the Middle East and the United States – will be the topic of a session featuring Pierre Vimont, former French Ambassador to the US and to the European Union; Daniela Schwarzer, executive director for Eurasia and Europe at the Open Societies Foundations in Berlin; and an American, soon to be announced.

Open registration starts January 3, 2022.

For more information on the 35th Anniversary Camden Conference: Europe: Challenged at Home and Abroad, February 25-27, 2022 please visit the website camdenconference.org.

The mission of the Camden Conference is to foster informed discourse on world issues.