Stefan Woltran invites:

We are pleased to announce our new event series: Polis Digitalis – Ensuring a Democratic Digital Space

The world is at a critical turning point as the extremely rapid development digitalization spearheaded by AI constitutes a technological and associated societal and economic transformation which affects and is affected by a (geo)political upheaval – with great potential benefits, but also equally great dangers.

The goal of this series is to bring together policy makers, journalists and academics to discuss the most recent actual or foreseen developments of policy decisions for the digital sphere, reflect on their impact, raise awareness in civil society at large and, when deemed suitable, formulate our own proposals in the spirit of Digital Humanism.

This monthly event offering discussions with worldwide digital policy makers will typically be held on our usual Tuesday time spot. 
We are cordially inivite you to our first event:

Tuesday, January 27, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. (17:00) Central European Time (UTC+1)

“Digital Policies: Will the EU Stand Firm?”

Speaker: Alex Agius Saliba (Maltese politician, Member of the European Parliament since 2019 for the Labour Party)
Interviewed by and in discussion with: George Metakides (Digital Enlightenment Forum)

>From the attempts by the US and Big Tech to force the EU to dismantle its digital regulation to the threats to Greenland, these attacks constitute a real and present danger to the very existence of the EU. Will the EU stand firm?

(scroll down for abstract and CV) 

Save the date for our next Polis Digitalis event:
10.02.26 MEP Brando Benifei

Reminder of our next Digital Humanism Lectures:
03.02.26 Dario Guarascio: “The Military-Digital Complex: Digital Technologies and the New World (dis)Ordert”
24.02.26 Sayeed Choudhury: “The Imperative of Openness in AI””
10.03.26 Stefan Szeider on “LLMs when left alone”
24.03.26 Darja Djordjevic on AI Compagnions

Details of the first event:

“Digital Policies: Will the EU Stand Firm?”:

>From the attempts by the US and Big Tech to force the EU to dismantle its digital regulation to the threats to Greenland, these attacks constitute a real and present danger to the very existence of the EU. Will the EU stand firm?

Short Bio of Alex Agius Saliba:

Alex Agius Saliba, was born on 31 January 1988 in Pietà. He received his primary education at Tarxien School and his secondary education at St. Augustine’s College. Alex Agius Saliba graduated with a doctorate in law in 2013 from the University of Malta. He continued his studies, where he is currently in the final phase to specialise in European Law.

Alex began his political activism at a young age, where at the age of 17 he was elected as Secretary General of the Social Democratic student organisation PULSE. He continued his political activism within the structures of the Labour Party where he held the positions of Secretary General and President of the Labour Youth Forum (FŻL) between 2008 and 2017. During the last 10 years Alex has also served as a member of the National Executive of the Labour Party, where in the last election he obtained the largest number of votes among the Party’s delegates.

Between 2008 and 2013 Alex Agius Saliba worked within the ONE newsroom. Between 2013 and 2017 he served as a legal advisor in various Ministries and Parliamentary Secretariats. From 2017 to 2018, Alex held the position of Head of the European Union Secretariat. In May 2019 he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament on behalf of the Labour Party.
Dr Agius Saliba is a representative of the S&D on the EMPL, PETI and IMCO committees. He holds the position of Vice-President of the Intergroup for Hunting within the European Parliament. In his first few months as an MEP, he was named one of the most influential MEPs for the year 2020 by POLITICO. During the year 2020, POLITICO and even ‘The Parliament Magazine’ awarded him the title of Key Player when it comes to digital policy.

Short Bio of George Metakides:

George Metakides is visiting professor at the University of Southampton, Adjunct Professor at the European University of Cyprus, President of the Digital Enlightenment Forum, and Advisor to several international organizations. He is involved in the analysis of the economic, political and social impact of digitization, related cybersecurity, data protection and regulatory issues and the promotion of international cooperation towards a digital ecosystem respecting shared human values. With a Ph.D. in Mathematical Logic earned from Cornell University in 1971, he pursued an academic career at MIT, Cornell and Rochester University before returning to Greece as Chair of Logic at the University of Patras. Since 1984 he has held senior positions with responsibility for Research & Development policy, funding and international co-operation in European institutions including the Directorship of the ESPRIT program He has contributed to the establishment of international institutions (including the launch of the World Wide Web consortium in 1993), has received a number of awards and honorary degrees and is a corresponding member of several National Academies.