The Batory Foundation Debates

The Batory Foundation Debates are an attempt at establishing an independent meeting and discussion forum for politicians, professionals, public intellectuals and journalists. The Foundation has long organized conferences and seminars on transition in Poland, international affairs, Poland’s foreign policy and the situation in Central and Eastern Europe. It has always been our objective to initiate public debate on matters important for Poland and the region.

Problems with Gas

February 6, 2003

The debate was moderated by Dariusz Filar, Chief Economist of Bank PEKAO S.A.

Panelists: Aleksander Gudzowaty, President of the Board of Bartimpex S.A.; Tadeusz Syryjczyk, Minister of Transport and Maritime Economy in Jerzy Buzek’s government; Piotr Woźniak, the deputy President of the Polish Oil and Gas Company in 2000-2001.

The debate was an opportunity to present a report on Between Need and Dependency. Russian Gas in the Energy Balance of the Enlarged EU published as part of the Stefan Batory Foundation’s On the Future of Europe series. The report was drafted by Grzegorz Gromadzki in co-operation with a team of experts; it was published in the Polish, English, and Russian languages.

A Clash of Generations? The Fate of Youth in Poland

June 12, 2003

The debate was moderated by Mirosława Grabowska, sociologist, Institute of Social Science, Warsaw University, Board Member of the Batory Foundation.

Panelists: Ewa Gutowska, Local Councillor in the Varmia and Mazurian province. Chairperson of the Self-defence Party Parliamentary Club; Robert Gwiazdowski, lawyer, Adam Smith Centre in Warsaw; Krzysztof Koseła, sociologist, Institute of Social Science, Warsaw University; Janusz Lewandowski, Member of the Polish Parliament, Civic Forum party; Adrian Zandberg, Federation of the Young of Labour Union party, editor of the www.lewica.pl portal; Tomasz Żukowski, sociologist, Institute of Social Policy at the Department of Journalism and Political Sciences, Warsaw University.

Poland in the World: Challenges, Achievements, Threats

June 30, 2003

The debate was moderated by Aleksander Smolar, President of the Batory Foundation.

Keynote address: Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs. Commentaries by: Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, former Polish Prime Minister, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London (currently President of the Bank PEKAO S.A.); Tadeusz Mazowiecki, former Polish Prime Minister, the 1992-95 Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Commission on respect for human rights in former Yugoslavia; Dariusz Rosati, former Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, member of the Monetary Policy Council.

The Polish and English transcript of the debate was published as part of the Batory Foundation’s On the Future of Europe series.

The Ukrainian-Polish Debate on Volyn

September 29, 2003

The debate was moderated by Bogumiła Berdychowska, columnist

Panelists: Anton Borkowskij, philosopher, the Ji magazine, Lviv; Jarosław Hrycak, historian, Institute of Historical Research of the Lviv University; Paweł Machcewicz, historian, Director of the Public Education Bureau of the Institute of National Memory, Lublin Chapter.

The debate was followed by a screening of Volyn – a Forecats of Tragedy, and a discussion with its authors – Oleksandr Radynski and Oleksandr Balaban.

The debate was co-organised by Tygodnik Powszechny weekly.

Series of debates State Crisis and Possible Ways Out

In September 2003, in cooperation with Tygodnik Powszechny weekly, we launched a series of debates on State Crisis and Possible Ways Out with an intent to discuss the growing sense of a state crisis, and the ever-greater lack of public confidence in political elites. This condition is reflected in the increasingly negative attitude of the society to post-1989 changes, as well as in the emergence of various remedy concepts for Poland, such as the postulates to amend the Constitution and the Election Law Act, or the slogan to proclaim the Fourth Republic. In his opening comments to the series debates, Aleksander Smolar wrote, “Our state and democracy require an in-depth and calm analysis. In line with our best traditions, we want these discussions to become a forum for meetings and thought exchange for politicians representing various parties, academics and teachers, journalists and business people – simply all those who share our anxiety and conviction that a civic debate is a precondition for a credible description of the country’s true condition, and for a search for responses to challenges we have been facing.”

Politics as a Tool for Conquest

September 25, 2003

The debate was moderated by Aleksander Smolar, President of the Batory Foundation.

Panelists: Andrzej Celiński, Member of the Polish Parliament, Left Democratic Alliance party; Janusz Lewandowski, Member of the Polish Parliament, Citizen’s Forum party; Andrzej Rychard, sociologist, Director of the Social Studies, Centre at the Institute of Philosophy and Social Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences; Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski, Member of the Polish Parliament, Law and Justice party; Jacek Żakowski, columnist, Polityka weekly.

How to Democratize Democracy

December 15, 2003

The debate was moderated by Mirosława Grabowska, sociologist, Institute of Social Science, Warsaw University, Board Member of the Batory Foundation.

Panelists: Marek Borowski, Speaker of the Parliament, Left Democratic Alliance party; Janusz Kochanowski, lawyer, President of the Ius et Lex Foundation; prof. Wiktor Osiatyński, lawyer, constitutional law specialist.

The debates of this series were published in Tygodnik Powszechny weekly.