TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK IN CONVERSATION WITH TARAS FEDIRKO
SAMSTAG / SATURDAY, 27.09.2025 / 17h00
AKADEMIE DER BILDENDEN KÜNSTE WIEN, AULA
With bleak economic prospects, declining productive competitiveness, an aging population and a war on its eastern border, the short- to mid-term future of Europe does not look particularly bright right now. But could we be misguided in our thinking about what lies ahead? Could a historical anomaly like the European Union—a leaderless, peaceful, and prosperous superpower—in fact become a Salvator Mundi, despite the massive geopolitical shifts we are currently witnessing? In conversation with IWM Senior Research Fellow TARAS FEDIRKO, the renowned Czech economist TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK will argue that the European model could indeed become the basis for a peaceful and prosperous future for our planet.
TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK is a Czech economist who gained international recognition for his book Economics of Good and Evil (Oxford University Press, 2013), which has been translated into 22 languages. Sedláček has served as an advisor to former Czech President Václav Havel and lectured at the World Economic Forum and around the world. Formerly chief macroeconomic strategist for the Czech Republic’s largest bank, he is a longstanding member of the Czech National Economic Council. Sedláček is also the author of the English-language podcast CzechMate. In March 2025 he has been appointed as the new director of the Václav Havel Library.