Rethinking Central Europe

Rethinking Central Europe

Transnational Networks and Visions of Integration in the Interwar Period

How was Central Europe re-imagined and debated after the profound political, social and economic transformations following the First World War? What converging and competing conceptions of the region emerged in response to the collapse of the empires, and how did they relate to broader visions of European order?

Taking these questions as its point of departure, the conference – jointly organised by the Otto von Habsburg Foundation (Budapest) and the European University Institute (Florence) – examines how Central Europe emerged as a key space of reflection and experimentation for new forms of regional and continental cooperation after the First World War. It highlights the role of political actors, intellectuals and economic experts who sought to move beyond nation-state competition toward alternative transnational frameworks of economic cooperation, political rapprochement and cultural exchange.

Marking the centenary of its first congress in Vienna, the discussion devotes particular attention to the Pan-European Movement led by Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi – one of the most influential and ambitious interwar initiatives of European economic and political cooperation – and to its principal Central European proponents, including Elemér Hantos, Václav Schuster and others. It further examines how their ideas of regional cooperation circulated across borders and were debated in relation to transnational challenges, such as economic reconstruction, financial stability, minority protection and collective security.

Against this background, the event seeks to re-evaluate Central Europe not only as a space of conflict and fragmentation, but also as a laboratory of regional and continental cooperation, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the intellectual and political origins of the European integration process and of the specific role played by Central European political, economic and academic actors. It further invites reflection on the resonance of interwar debates with contemporary European challenges. Revisiting these early attempts at regional and continental cooperation in times of crisis can help inform current debates on the future of the European Union and the role of its Central European member states.

Programme

9.30–10.00      Registration

10.00–10.15    Opening remarks

Gergely Prőhle, Director of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation

10.15–10.45    Keynote speech

Péter Ákos Bod, Professor, Former Minister of Industry and Trade, Former Governor of the Hungarian National Bank

10.45–11.45    Introductory lectures

Catherine Horel, Research Director at CNRS, President of International Committee for Historical Sciences

Anita Ziegenhofer, Professor of Law, University of Graz

11.45–12.00    Coffee break

12.00–13.30    Panel I. Networks of Cooperation: Hantos and the Central European Visionaries of the Interwar Era

Gabriel Godeffroy, Research Fellow at the Prague Office, Collegium Carolinum

The Hungarian Pioneer of European Integration? Elemér Hantos’s Ideas and Initiatives for Regional Economic Cooperation in Post-Habsburg Central Europe

János Zsugyel, Retired Associate Professor, Budapest Business School

Elemér Hantos’s Ideas on Central European Integration in the Light of Historical Reality

Vince Paál, Research Associate, Institute for Media Studies of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority

Gusztáv Gratz’s Ideas on Central European Cooperation

Gergely Fejérdy, Deputy Director of the Otto von Habbsurg Foundation

Pál Auer and the Idea of Central European Cooperation

Chair: Gábor Ujváry, Deputy Director General of the VERITAS Research Institute for History and Archives

13.30–14.30    Lunch

14.30–16.00    Panel II. Blueprints for Europe: Economic and Political Imaginaries of Cooperation

Magdolna Ágnes Gedeon, Associate Professor, University of Miskolc

The Reception of German Plans for Central Europe in Hungary

Simon Neumaier, Research Fellow, European University Institute

Central Europe in Twentieth-Century International Economic Thought

László Pallai, Associate Professor, University of Debrecen

The Idea of Integration and Hungarian Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period

Bence Kocsev, Research Fellow, Otto von Habsburg Foundation

The United States of the Danube: A Liberal Vision of Central Europe

Chair: Gábor Egry, Director General of the Institute of Political History

16.00–16.15    Closing remarks

The conference will be held in Hungarian and German, with simultaneous interpretation provided.

We look forward to welcoming you!