Spring General Assembly 2026

About the event

We are very pleased to invite you to the 2026 Spring ELF General Assembly, which will take place in Vienna, Austria from the 16th until the 17th of April 2026.

Programme:

Programme Thursday, 16th April 2026
Open to delegates and registered guests

12:00h – 13:00h Welcome lunch and registration
NEOS Lab, Event Space, Am Heumarkt 7/1/1, 1030 Wien, Austria

13:00h – 17:00h Policy lab on Resilient Democracy
Keynote: Věra Jourová, Former European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency (2019-2024), Vice-Rector for the Development of Human Resources and New Technologies at Charles University
NEOS Lab, Event Space, Am Heumarkt 7/1/1, 1030 Wien, Austria

13:00-13:30 Intro & Keynote

13:30-17:00 Policy Lab (Groupwork)
Working group 1 – Institutional resilience – moderated by Alva Finn & Antoaneta Asenova Bihlmayer & Mats Lofstrom, MP, Board members
Working group 2 – Democratic Culture, Education & Participation – moderated by Konrad Holleis & Brigitte van den Berg, MEP, Board member
Working group 3 – Free Media & the Information Environment – moderated by Eloi Borgne & Marco Mariani, 1st Vicepresident
Working group 4 – Keeping Democracies Safe – Silvia Nadjivan & Violetta Pashutina, Board member

18:45 Bus transfer from The Hoxton to Das Loft

19:30h – 22:30h General Assembly Reception
Welcome:
Jan-Christoph Oetjen, Member of the European Parliament, President of ELF
Helmut Brandstätter, Member of the European Parliament, President of NEOS Lab
Das Loft (So / Vienna), Praterstraße 1, 1020 Wien, Austria

Programme Friday, 17th April 2026
Delegates only

9:00h – 10:00h Briefing on Statute Changes
The Hoxton, Rudolf-Sallinger-Platz 1, 1030 Wien, Austria

Coffee break
Open to delegates and registered guests

10:15h – 12:00h General Assembly
Keynote: Yannick Shetty, Member of the Austrian Parliament, Parliamentary group leader of NEOS
The Hoxton, Rudolf-Sallinger-Platz 1, 1030 Wien, Austria
12:00h – 12:30h Lunch
The Hoxton, Rudolf-Sallinger-Platz 1, 1030 Wien, Austria
From 13:00h End of the official programme and departure of delegates

13:30h – 16:00h Conference on the Future of Skills and Jobs with ELF – NEOS Lab – LYMEC
Welcome by:
Helga Pattart-Drexler, Executive director NEOS Lab, Vienna
Brigitte van den Berg, Member of the European Parliament, ELF Board Member
Martina von Künsberg Sarre, Member of the Austrian Parliament and NEOS spokesperson for education and science
Novum Wiedner Hauptstraße 146 – 148, 1050 Wien, Austria
Registration: Please reach out to LYMEC directly
20:00h – 22:00h Welcome reception of ELF and LYMEC
Welcome by: Jan-Christoph Oetjen, Member of the European Parliament, President of ELF