“We can never take our democracy for granted,” said Dubravka Šuica, vice president of the European Commission, speaking to packed audiences both at the nHow Hotel in Brussels and Counterpart’s Washington, D.C. office, as well as dozens more tuning in remotely.
Šuica’s opening remarks in reference to the ongoing war in Ukraine on the first day of the Global Democracy Coalition Forum were a somber reminder of the threats to democracy that exist today. While the second forum, held February 28-March 1 in advance of the second Summit for Democracy, included discussions on the rise in authoritarianism and democratic backsliding, the forum also offered some hope that democratic values are still popular among citizens around the world.
Later this month, the U.S. will co-host the second Summit for Democracy alongside the governments of Costa Rica, South Korea, the Netherlands, and Zambia.
