This workshop of the European Future Summits series focuses on the future of Poland and the country’s role and position in the European Union.

Since the early 1990s, and despite the global financial crisis in 2007/2008, Poland enjoys stable and continuous economic growth. Moreover, Poland is not only a member of the European Union, but, as a member of NATO, also well integrated in global security frameworks. At the same time, however, the post-2015 developments on Polish political scene gave rise to staunch criticism against the Polish government, followed by a signal of the European Commission that it would consider legal actions against the country. Overall, a detailed insight into the evolution of the status quo of Polish socio-political and economic developments triggers several still open-ended questions.

Among other aspects, such overarching trends and momentous developments will serve the workshop as points of departure, in order to critically debate Poland’s role and position in the European Union, hand in hand with the country’s potential future challenges and options. What will the future bring for Poland, which challenges has the country to expect, and how will it cope with what’s ahead?

This indeed very complex field will be rendered manageable in the course of the workshop by jointly elaborating three future scenarios (with respect to the future of Poland in the context of European politics). The progress in time from the present days up to 2035, together with general premises and drivers, will provide the basic analytic framework for this process. In this way – and mainly through open debate – core aspects of the topic will be identified and options for action derived.

The workshop is designed for academics and experts as well as actors from the organized civil society who are deeply invested in research, policy making, or civic engagement regarding politics, economy and society in Poland and/or the politics of the European Union.

The workshop begins on Friday, September 29, 01:00 p.m. and ends on Saturday, September 30, 05:00 p.m. The workshop is organized in cooperation with our Polish partner organization the Institute of East-Central Europe (IESW), Poland. It is kindly supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. Participation in the conference is free of charge (including meals). In addition, the EAB can offer overnight accommodation for a limited number participants.

If you are interested in participating, we look forward to receiving a brief letter of interest, including your name and your professional affiliation.

A full program of the workshop will be posted on this website shortly.

For registration and further questions, please contact Ilona Rathert (ir@eab-berlin.eu, 030 89595127).

➤ Programme