Bogusław Chrabota: Forum in the shadow cast by the war

It would be no exaggeration to say that the Economic Forum is a chronicle of the political, social, and economic life of the last 30 years. It’s been three decades of observing, discussing, and contemplating the changing world. These discussions could be the basis not just for a fascinating chronicle of change, but for an epoch-making work documenting the political history of the region, facing so many challenges, so many levels of risk, and so many crossroads.

Publikacja: 07.09.2022 03:00

Bogusław Chrabota: Forum in the shadow cast by the war

Foto: Mariusz Szachowski, fototaxi.pl

Still, as participants in the Forum, never have we been confronted with such a complex situation in Central Europe as we are today. This change is most concisely recounted by one simple, albeit terrible, word – war. Personally, I have never imagined – and such a belief was shared by most of the Forum participants – that we would face the prospect of a massive war on our borders. We have been reducing risks to small frozen conflicts, such as the occupation of South Ossetia, separatism in Moldova’s Transnistria, or the takeover of Donbass by separatists and Russian intelligence services. 

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Bogusław Chrabota: Forum w cieniu wojny

The reality of recent months shows how naive we have been. The morning of February 24 changed our entire reality – the politics, the economy, and society itself. By welcoming millions of Ukrainians, we are back to being a multi-ethnic country. By participating in the sanctions imposed on Russia, we decided on a difficult and full of sacrifices transition of the Polish and European economy. 

In terms of the pace of change, we are not even shifting into fourth gear, but into fifth gear. Overhauling the energy complex, changing the supply chains, creating new parts of the defence industry from scratch, full diversification of energy sources, the Polish nuclear plant, or renewable energy are just some of the major challenges we come up against as a state and society.

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Natalia Stroe: Po pandemii zmierzamy w kierunku normalności

“This winter will be difficult;” “The coming years will be full of sacrifices.” These statements sound like clichés, but they carry unprecedented and hard-to-imagine capacity for challenges. Will we be able to handle it? This will probably be difficult for us, being so politically divided and conflicted. And yet, there’s no way out. Poland is one and the responsibility for Poland must not be subject to any party affiliation. Weighing the rationale is needed. Dialogue is needed. And an attempt to seek consensus.

And this is precisely what the Economic Forum can and should do – to create a platform for the dialog to work out solutions. Everyone meets here. The halls of the Gołębiewski Hotel can be a place for this dialogue. A dialogue of Poland with its neighbours, with the world, finally, Poland’s dialogue with itself. This is how it used to be for years beneath Beskid Sądecki mountain range climbing over Krynica’s promenade. The shadow of the Karkonosze Śnieżka Mountain can be just as productive. I am writing this just a day before the Forum. The meetings will begin in just a few hours. I wish that important issues will be discussed peacefully and thoughtfully, without any pretentiousness and above political divisions.

Foto: rp.pl

Still, as participants in the Forum, never have we been confronted with such a complex situation in Central Europe as we are today. This change is most concisely recounted by one simple, albeit terrible, word – war. Personally, I have never imagined – and such a belief was shared by most of the Forum participants – that we would face the prospect of a massive war on our borders. We have been reducing risks to small frozen conflicts, such as the occupation of South Ossetia, separatism in Moldova’s Transnistria, or the takeover of Donbass by separatists and Russian intelligence services. 

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