President Levits visited Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), where he met with Prof Peter Lievens, KU Leuven Vice Rector for International Politics, and Prof Marc Vervenne, Honorary Rector of KU Leuven, and exchanged views on higher education, role of official language in education and what Latvian universities should do to attract international students.
Egils Levits then took part in workshop/roundtable discussion ‘Democracy in the digital age – risks and challenges’ with postgraduate students of Faculty of Law, Faculty of Social Sciences and Institute of Philosophy. President Levits delivered a lecture on key features of modern democracies, public opinion on and participation in current democratic processes, where democracies are headed according to political theory and under the influence of rapid technological change. Egils Levits also shared his perspective on what regulatory changes are required to keep up with digital transformation.
Students listened keenly to President Levits and actively engaged in the following discussion. They asked President what he thinks about many other issues, including how social media affect public opinions through, for example, manipulation, spreading of fake news, monitoring and profiling. Discussion also focused on positive and negative impact of artificial intelligence on democracy, technological revolution, personal data protection, ways of building trust in government, and other issues.
President of Latvia then took a tour of KU Leuven Library where Latvia’s National Anthem was played on carillon in honour of Egils Levits’ visit.
