Conference of NGO Partnership for Three Seas Initiative took place on Monday 26th July in Gliwice. On that day we were witnesses of great debate between experts from a field of scientific interest including Three Seas Initiative, Visegard Group, Eastern Bloc or youth policy. Event was a sign of the cooperation of 12 European Union countries in the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Sea region. Among them are: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria.
The conference was inaugurated by Julian Żelaznowski, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister prof. Piotr Gliński, former advisor among others Jadwiga Emilewicz, Member of the Council for Dialogue with the Young Generation, member of the supervisory board of the Institute of New Europe, who attended with the event and spoke about importance of these kind of conferences. What is more, he read a congratulation letter on behalf of Piotr Mazurek – Polish politician, political scientist, journalist, publicist and social activist, from September to November 2020, undersecretary of state, and from November 2020, Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, government plenipotentiary for youth policy and vice-chairman of the Public Benefit Committee
The following experts took part in the debate:
Robert Rajczyk – Post-doctoral degree assistant professor at the Institute of Political Science and Journalism at the University of Silesia in Katowice. The area of research interests includes, among others, the subject of political systems of states created after the collapse of the Eastern bloc. Romania, the Republic of Moldova and the Visegrad Group countries occupy a special place in scientific research. He is involved in scientific activities at the Polish Research Institute and Museum in Budapest.
Paweł Pawłowski –Chairman of the Foundation Council at the Warsaw Institute. He is also the Vice President of the Management Board of Cegielski Analytics Center. He graduated of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw and the Babson Entrepreneurship Program at Babson College. He completed an internship as a research assistant at the Institute of World Politics in Washington. He gained professional experience in the best banks in Poland. Currently, he works as a manager in a leading company in the regional transport industry.
Karol Jędruszek – Member of the 1st term of the Council for Dialogue with the Young Generation, Youth Delegate of the Republic of Poland to the United Nations, manager of the Club of the Leader of the Republic of Poland
The following topics were discussed during the conference:
- Summary of the effects of the Three Seas Initiative to date;
- The Three Seas Initiative as an opportunity to intensify the development of European Union countries
- The Three Seas Initiative as an area of cooperation between non-governmental organizations;
- Potential tools of the Three Seas Initiative to stimulate the development of non-governmental organizations;
- The challenges facing the Three Seas Initiative;
From left: Robert Rajczyk, Paweł Pawłowski, Karol Jędruszek
The debate resulted in many interesting threads that answered many questions, among others:
· What are the opportunities to the Three Seas Initiative?
· What are the main threats to the Three Seas Initiative?
· What’s about Germany assessed the TSI as an attempt to create a block of competition against ‘old Europe’ in order to destroy the current balance of power in the EU?
· One Belt, One Road between Three Seas Initiative: Is this an opportunity for China to tighten relations with Europe?
· What is the impact of the establishment of the Three Seas Initiative on the functioning of non-governmental organizations?
· In what areas can the Three Seas Initiative support NGOs?
· The Greatest success of the Three Seas Initiative?
· What can become potential tools of the Three Seas Initiative to stimulate the development of NGOs?
· What challenges will the Three Seas Initiative be facing?
· One of TSI main slogans is complementarity. How states can implement it?
The conferences were concluded by Minister Paweł Jabłoński – Polish lawyer and Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2015, he has been an attorney at law, a member of the Bar Association in Warsaw. In 2016-2018, he was the Chamber’s deputy disciplinary spokesman. From 2018, he was an advisor to the Prime Minister, and then deputy director of the Department for Coordination of International Projects. He has been a member of the Central European Council since February 2019.
Without doubt, this type of event will allow for closer cooperation between the Three Seas Initiative countries, which in the future will result in deepened integration of NGO’s.