Within the framework of key European themes, the speech is always made by personalities who have served the cause of democracy in Europe.
This year's speaker, Milan Uhde, studied Russian and Czech at the Philosophical Faculty of Brno University. Until the year 1989, there was a ban on the publication of his writings in Czechoslovakia. In 1977 Milan Uhde signed Charter 77. After the Velvet Revolution he became Minister for Culture in Czechoslovakia in 1990, after which he became President of the Czech Parliament in 1992 and Chairman of the ODS Parliamentary Party in 1996. After the split in the ODS he joined Unie svobody - Demokratická unie (Freedom Union) in 1997