On 20-24 January, leaders from politics and private sector from across the globe gathered at the 50^th World Economic Forum (WEF) to discuss social, economic and political issues that are driving today’s world.

With a key focus on sustainability, other topics under discussion included global growth, new technologies, flow of data and geopolitics.

Liberals were present in this year’s forum, with Prime Ministers Xavier Bettel, Jüri Ratas, Mark Rutte and Sophie Wilmès as well as European Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová discussing topics such as the European Green Deal, human rights and digitalisation.

Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, took part in two debates which focused on the green policy agenda and on surviving the challenges of the 21^st century. Rutte stressed the role of climate change and Artificial Intelligence, highlighting that “we cannot deal with these issues in a bilateral way”. He also highlighted the need for a multilateral global system and a European human-centric approach.

See full interventions here and here

Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel was one of the main speakers in the panel called “Free to Be” which addressed the current situation of the LGTBI community and the measures that are needed to achieve an inclusive environment for everyone. He stated that “politicians also have responsibility for having a gender equality”.

See full debate here

European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová participated in two sessions on technology addressing the topics of cross-border data flows and their regulation, and the safeguard of digital spaces. At her interventions, she stressed that citizens must have their privacy in their own hands and reminded that “we live in a digital reality which must not be the reality without the law”.

See full interventions here and here

Prime Minister of Estonia, Jüri Ratas participated in a panel on cyber security and highlighted the need of a cooperation between the private and public sectors to face this new reality. He reminded that “cybersecurity does not only mean security issues on defence or the security sector [...] Cyberattacks also happen everywhere in civil life and our everyday life.”

See his full intervention here.

https://twitter.com/Xavier_Bettel/status/1220297851202351104?s=20

https://twitter.com/Xavier_Bettel/status/1220292159817076737?s=20

https://twitter.com/VeraJourova/status/1220398273816678403?s=20

https://twitter.com/ratasjuri/status/1220015418196230149?s=20