On 17-18 October Villa Decius held the International Conference entitled “Europe – Critical Problems” – a joint initiative of the Villa Decius Association and the Res Publica Nowa magazine. The conference was a continuation of the prestigious series of debates on the idea of freedom, which has been run by the Villa Decius Association since 2005. The programme included lectures and debates open to the public and a seminar with experts and academics from the Czech Republic, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic, United States, Sweden, Hungary, Italy and the UK.
The inaugural lecture was delivered by Marcin Krol, philosopher and historian of ideas, journalist, founder and chief editor of Res Publica Nowa and Chairman of the Stefan Batory Foundation. A special lecture was also presented by Prof. Adam D. Rotfeld, a prominent scientist, politician and intellectual, Poland’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs. See the photos by Paweł Mazur.
- Opening speech “Europe – Critical Problems” Marcin Król (Poland)
- Debate 1: “Political crisis. Why democratise liberalism?”
Experts: Samuel Abraham (Slovakia), Szabolcs Pogonyi (Hungary),
Uwe Serdült (Switzerland), Nina Witoszek-Fitzpatrick (Norway)
Moderator: Wojciech Przybylski (Poland)
- Special lecture – Adam Daniel Rotfeld (Poland)
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1.45 p.m. – 3.15 p.m. Debate 2: “Community crisis. Between nationalism and universalism”
Experts: Dominika Kasprowicz (Poland), Kai-Olaf Lang (Germany)
Milica Pesic (Serbia/UK), László Rájk (Hungary)
Moderator: C. Cain Elliott (USA/Poland)
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EXPERT SEMINAR “Reinventing Europe”
Introductions: Northern Perspective: Michael Henri Kowalewicz (Poland)
Southern Perspective: Paul T. Levin (Sweden)
Moderator: Krzysztof Bobiński (Poland)
