While opening the First European Seminar of the Institute De Republica on 15 October 2021, the Director of the Institute, dr hab. Bogumił Szmulik, university professor, began by posing the question whether it is worth discussing problems in a family and trying to solve them through dialogue. He also expressed his conviction that the European Union, and more broadly the whole of Europe, is a family composed of free, sovereign and equal members, before whom history, as for many centuries before, poses serious challenges that raise a number of questions, from the most fundamental and most frequently asked ones, concerning the directions and shape of further integration, the ways of preserving the sovereignty of member states, the equality of all community members, the appreciation and maintenance of differences and traditions of nation states, to those arising from currently observed social, political or economic processes.
According to the organisers of the IDR European Seminars, all members of the European family must consider what kind of Europe they want, not only in the political aspect, where the main problem must focus on working out an effective way of reconciling the sometimes conflicting interests of individual states, but also consider a number of other issues: (1) what kind of economy they want; (2) how to respond to climate change and protect the weakest citizens and economies so that the idea of a Green Europe would not be realised at their cost; (3) how, perceiving everyone as equal and free, to solve the migration crisis, protecting Europe from the adverse consequences of this phenomenon; (4) what directions of foreign policy to take in order to present a common position in relation towards other powerful world players such as Russia, China or the United States; (5) how to effectively fight terrorism and conduct effective defence policy, and finally (6) how to respond to the ultra-fast changes that are taking place under the influence of the digital revolution that is developing before our eyes.
The European Seminars of the Institute De Republica are an attempt to find answers to the aforementioned questions and doubts. They will be attended by specialists in the humanities and social sciences as well as practitioners, who have been specialising in broadly understood European issues in their various aspects for a number of years. The purpose of the Seminars, therefore, is also to consider the surrounding problems from the perspective of the past in order to reflect jointly on the future; the view from the perspective of the past and the future, history and the present; law and philosophy, politics and economics, culture and economy, the look from the perspective of Europeans and the look from the perspective of citizens of sovereign nation states.
The IDR European Seminars will be accompanied by publications appearing in the “European Series” published by the Institute De Republica Publishing House.
The IDR European Seminars:
- I IDR European Seminar | “The Future of Europe and the Potential Directions of Evolution of the European Union”, Kazimierz Dolny, 15 October 2021.
- II IDR European Seminar | “Climate and energy policy of the European Union”, Kazimierz Dolny, 14 January 2022.
The papers delivered during the seminars are accessible here: LINK
Organising Committee:
- dr hab. Bogumił Szmulik, university professor (IDR, WPiA UKSW)
- dr Magdalena Maksymiuk (IDR, WPiA UKSW)
- mgr Łukasz Gołąb (IDR, WPiA UKSW)