Issue nr 2, September 2012 free edition

THE FORUM POSTforum-leaders.eu

Natalie Antkowiak Ewelina Chylińska Mathew Davies Malte Koppe Yaroslav Melekh Mariya Romanyshyn Gabriela Virostková

Is there a future for the young generation today in Europe?

Exploring leadershipBEING A LEADER in modern society means not only being able to cope with chang-es, but also the ability to promote useful changes. It is necessary to be persistent and one must be ready to go an “extra mile”.

Continued on page 12

Democracy on retreatRUSSIA, BELARUS AND UKRAINE together have a population of almost 200 million people. The 3 countries constitute con-siderable trading partners for all the EU states. Their importance in energy sup-ply for the EU does not even need to be stressed just as the huge share of the en-ergy sector in the economies of Russia (~ 20 %), Belarus (9 %) and Ukraine (7,5 %) illustrates.

Continued on page 4�2

Traditional Balkan concert has been performed at the closing banquet of the Economic Forum in KrynicaPhotograph by Aleksander Wolak

Is the end of the EU a likely scenario? �10 No generation before had such opportunities �2 Forum Spotlights �8

Inside � Forum is about networking page 3 � Belarus should open itself up to the world page 4

� A lost generation page 6 � Challenging, productive and inspiring page 7

� Be active in Europe page 14 � Meet the Programme Council page 15

Mathew Davies, UK

FEATURED In 2007 the housing crisis in the USA triggered the global financial crisis which later mutated into a sov-ereign debt crisis, general economic crisis – and today a political crisis in Europe. Years of mushrooming deriva-tives packaged up and used as lever-age called for the bail-out of the private sector by the public purse. This led to increased levels of public debt and con-siderably expanded deficits. This has to be paid back. However, austerity, cuts and minimal growth coupled with in-

creased unemployment and the rise of nationalism prompts the question – is there a future for the young generation in Europe. This was the main theme of the Economic Forum of Young Lead-ers this year, and a question tackled by political heavy weights such as Lech Wałesa, Polish Hero, former leader of Solidarnosc and President of Poland. And the current Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Władysław Kosiniak-Ka-mysz. According to Lech Wałesa there has never been a generation before that has had as many opportunities as ours.

Forum’s Partner

Watch the Forum onlineThe whole media coverage dur-ing this year Forum was provided by Transmisje.org, which has immense experience in video streaming, on-line coverage and live transmission. They are offering a full media service including webbroadcasting of confer-ences, promotion of the event online (website, social media, Internet banners and ads, advertising on news portals, mailing, newsletter) and production of corporation films. Transmisje.org can work across Europe, thanks to media partners in different countries. Video of all debates and interviews with guest speakers of the 7th Economic Forum of Young Leaders is available to watch on

�http://forum-leaders.eu

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Forum 2012 in briefInterview with Michał Wójcik

THE SEVENTH FORUM involved a record for the number of participants. This is mainly because the Forum has be-come a recognizable name and the most important event of this type for young people from Europe.

When we first started in February 2006 we had to distribute the relevant infor-mation across to many institutions and explain what the Forum was all about. Today there are many other people who enquire about us. There are no longer problems with recruiting and signing up participants with more than 1000 various institutions from Europe. Inter-estingly, institutions not only from Eu-rope are interested in, and come over to us. Moreover, we have moved towards partnership cooperation with new enti-ties from Poland for almost 3 years now. This makes us stronger and offers good opportunities and perspectives for the future.What is the purpose of this meeting? We said almost seven years ago that we wanted to make a young people’s Da-vos. Therefore we would like Nowy Sacz to become a meeting place for leaders who have something interesting to share with others, and at the same time, are open to meeting other people and share their experience, which may lead to the creation of new contacts for their social and business projects. Network-ing and high quality debates are the two phrases that could describe our Forum in the best possible way. The Forum is a kind of meeting place of more than 350 leaders from 42 countries. Since the beginning we assumed that leaders from the Eastern and Western Europe would meet there. Moreover, we tend to discuss important subjects and this dis-cussion is carried out with leaders of our contemporary times.What subjects are covered during this year’s Forum?The main subject of the Forum relates to the outlook for our generation. And here the major question arises, are we really a lost generation or are we rather a gen-eration of great opportunities? On the one hand the whole of Europe is open for us. Of course, we are now talking about the EU members which are still an accessible place for many people. We, thus, have an opportunity to study, live

and work in a different country. Indeed, we have practically, unlimited access to educational programs. Furthermore, due to new technologies we have to-tally new communication mechanisms and work tools provided for improv-ing formal and informal networks. On the other hand, however, there are so many unsolved issues. Almost half of the Spaniards at the age of 30 are unem-ployed. There is no stable employment. Many people work on the so called junk contracts which do not provide finan-

cial stability.But returning back to this studying. Does it matter that we can choose any university in any other EU member country if only British ones come up to the rank of the first thirty best universi-ties worldwide? These are tough ques-tions we need to tackle.So is this that bad or is this only a kind of fake pessimism?It seems to me that many issues which are simple have not been solved yet, and that courageous ideas have been miss-ing for years now. These ideas would be a breakthrough in addressing this apa-thy. Someone wrote that it has been five years since the crisis began. Isn’t it too long? Aren’t we able, having such tools as no one had before, to get through this and cope with it much quicker? Maybe we do not have politicians who are good enough? Again, these are important questions we must ask.But don’t you just talk?No, we meet with the best of the best. People who have experience, leadership capabilities and the charisma to deliver and incite development with young people in Nowy Sacz. Once, Jose Maria Aznar told us that that if he had another chance of becoming the Prime Minister of Spain, he would do exactly the same as he did when was in the government. It was such an instructive statement.What is this that you liked during this year’s Forum?

What I like most is that we are now us-ing all the potential of the Foundation (European Meeting Centre - Nowy Staw Foundation) to organise the Forum, which, in fact, is huge. We have a lot of experience of organizing such events. Let’s take, for example, media arrange-ment. Every year, we are trying to make it be the best. We have engaged a now work with a company closely cooper-ating with us. That is Transmisje.org, which has immense experience in this field and is providing the majority of me-dia services to us. This is a good job for a

just cause.A handy group of volunteers, cooperating parties and people who put a lot of their time and effort whilst enjoy-

ing themselves at the same time, are in-volved in the work for the Forum. They, quite correctly, think of the Forum as their event. We really do have a great team of people and we are open to new ones joining in. For many years, we have been enjoying hospitality of the city of Nowy Sacz and, generally speaking, the Małopolska region, which makes the atmosphere inviting and makes people feel at home.What are you plans for the future?

We have already started a scholarship program. We are addressing our offer to companies which would like to found a membership scholarship in the next year’s edition of the Forum for one per-son, a young leader from any country. Such a person would have an opportu-nity to participate in our event. Moreo-ver, he/she would be able to do their internship in the company that funded this scholarship. We are thinking par-ticularly about leaders of NGOs from Eastern European countries, which, naturally, have fewer chances to par-ticipate in such events as the Forum. Similar to the eighties, thousands of Poles used to go for foreign scholarship funded by companies, private sponsors, and right now, today, it is worth ad-dressing a similar offer to our Eastern neighbours. We have been working and focusing on this and, I guess, next year, we will be able to invite more people to attend our Forum. n

The Forum is about networking and debate

The Economic Forum of Young Leaders has become a recognizable name and the most important event of this type for young peo-ple from Europe

Michałłl Wojcik, Programme Director of the Economic Forum

of Young Leaders

Message from the editorThank you for reading the second edi-tion of the Forum Post. Every year the Economic Forum of Young Leaders expands. And this year is no excep-tion. At this years forum there are more participants than ever before. In a year when the battle of economic and po-litical ideas continue to rage on. The proponents of flexible labour markets and competitiveness will argue one set of policy prescriptions, and those con-cerned with the social costs of precari-ous work and falling living standards will offer another. In short, priorities inevitably matter, and the forum hosts leaders with very different experiences and theoretical persuasions throughout Europe and beyond. One issue is clear.

Europe needs fewer charlatans and cow-ards and more heroes and markswomen targeting what re-ally needs to be done. This is a worthy en-deavor in order to save the greatest peace project the world has ever known – the EU.

The forum will host fresh faces with fresh ideas. Young people who are not afraid to observe the political and eco-nomic landscape, and speak out with warm hearts and cool heads. That is precisely what happened in previous years and indeed this year, when young leaders travelled to Southern Poland on September 3rd 2012. n

Lech Wałesa said that "the world be-longs to you" but there are bad pro-grammes and bad structures in place. He asserted that we need to take part in building a better structure, and for people to stand for elections. This is because he believes there is no other way. President Wałesa pointed out that young people need to organise more meetings like the one he was attend-ing, and listen carefully to what the others have to say and to extrapolate, and use the best ideas to make a good programmes. When pressed on the idea that young people were lost, or thrown on the scrapheap he responded with a frank and down to earth reply which was truly characteristic.

Walesa stipulated that he doesn’t be-lieve that we ought to presume that oth-ers have to do something for us.

The lecture and question and answer section was enjoyed by everyone, and is available on the forums official web-site. Two days later, at the Economic Fo-rum in Krynica, the Davos of the East, young leaders held a platform to discuss this topic. The panel was made up of Dr Francisco Martínez Rivas, Catholic Uni-

versity of San Antonio, Spain. Dariusz Suszyn-ski, Rural Youth Asso-ciation, Poland. Monika Zaharie, and University of Babes- Bolyai Uni-versity, Romania, and Mat Davies, Programme Council of the Economic Forum of Young Lead-ers. And finally, Do-minika Kita, Chairman of the Students Parlia-ment in Poland. The presentations delivered an insight into the gen-eral educational system across Europe and the mis-match between academia and the job market. This was highlight-ed by Monika Zaharie who delivered a startling presentation which engaged the audience immediately. Dr Francisci Rivas later explained the complexities within his country in Spain.

Mat Davies, argued that the success or failure of this generation depended on the reform of one sector, and offered three policy prescriptions. Firstly, he said that the days of derivatives culmi-nating in 400 – 600 trillion compared to 50 trillion in global economic output are over – because people have woken up to the embedded unfairness of pri-vatising the risks and socialising the losses of speculative markets. Within Europe his speech argued that we ought to follow the Monti Report, by complet-ing the single market and therefore the

growth capacity from e-commerce and e-procurement among other sectors. This is believed to be a short term policy necessity. However, he called for green investment for the world our grandchil-dren will live in and progressive taxa-tion in order to win back the trust of the public once again.

The spectre of youth unemployment haunts Europe. This year young leaders had the chance to debate with the cur-rent leaders on matters which matter to us all. With unemployment continuing unabated, the economic forum will con-tinue to function as a platform for dis-cussing this issue among any others. n

Is there a future for the young generation today in Europe?

“You ought to realise that you have to do it for yourselves I underline, you have to do it for yourselves and for others’’.

Lech Walłesa

Interview with Lech Walesa, guest speaker at the Forum. 4.09.2012Photograph by Aleksander Wolak

Main Partner of the EF of Young Leaders

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THE FORUM POST 4 THE FORUM POST5

Malte Koppe, Germany

EASTERN EUROPE Russia, Ukraine and Belarus together have a population of almost 200 million people. The three countries constitute consider-able trading partners for all the EU countries. Their importance in energy supply for the European Union does not even need to be stressed just as the huge share of the energy sector in the economies of Russia (~ 20 %), Belarus (9 %) and Ukraine (7,5 %) il-lustrates.

Their geographical position and strong cultural ties with the West of Europe make the three countries potential part-ners for the EU in the global rat race for influence and economical advantage. Economic cooperation for the benefit of all parts of society clearly works best under market economy conditions. But the market needs democratic institu-tions and the rule of law in order to blos-som.2012 is a crucial year for the develop-ment of democracy in all three above men-tioned countries. The performance of Belar-us and Ukraine in the renowned analysis of Freedom House, de-

mocracy rating has been shown to have weakened. Moreover, Russia’s position did not improve.

The economic crisis struck Belarus-sian state-sponsored economics espe-cially hard. Minsk chose to sell parts of its key industries to Moscow for Russian credits. Observers didn’t expect the Oc-tober 2012 parliamentary elections to change the countries political sphere considerably. Ukraine saw further con-firmation of authoritarian tendencies with the mistreatment of imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Timosh-enko. This subject is, however, only the tip of the ice-berg. The upcoming parlia-mentary elections (October 2012) are al-ready heating up the political climate in the country. Will they be free and fair?

In Russia, the castling of now-pres-ident Vladimir Putin with his succes-sor in the office, Dmitry Medvedev, seems to cement the authoritarian rule of the country. One has to acknowl-edge, however, that this unique move

was accompanied by unusually harsh protests throughout Russian society. It will be of key importance for all the discussed countries here, if the Rus-sian opposition, presently intimidated and oppressed by the regime, can be strong enough to channel the protests into real change. If it is true what Lidia

Shevtsova of Carnegie Moscow states, today’s Russia might transform quicker than the world is prepared for. While so-ciologist declare the rise of the Russian middle class, the authorities answered social discontent in the last few months with a wave of oppression: culminating in the “Pussy Riot” case.

Democracy in Eastern Europe in retreat. Who can initiate positive change?

Belarus should open itself up to the worldHow can one improve the economic situation in Belarus?Belarus should introduce a coherent legal system, and open itself up to the world. This is not possible without se-rious political reforms. This means the establishment of government based on the rule of law and the division of pow-er. For example, It is important to reform the huge state-owned enterprises. Right now, they rely exclusively on Russia (either on Russian natural supplies or on the Russian market). I stressed this huge problem in my campaign program.What can we expect from the parlia-mentary elections in autumn?

Unfortunately, we can’t expect any-thing from them. This is because the representatives of the opposition have not been accepted onto the local elec-tion committees. As Josef Stalin said “It does not matter how the people vote,

all that matters is who counts the bal-lots.” A lot of popular politicians have been convicted by courts, and actu-ally imprisoned. Therefore, they did not have the right to campaign. Alaksandar Milinkievič, for example, has not been registered.How can one highlight the Belaru-sian issue at the international level?

There is no easy way to make the Bela-rusian case matter in times of economic crises. We have to prepare for a long process; we need to utilise all the con-tacts we have. The neighbour countries Poland, Latvia and Lithuania will play an important role, but Germany as well. This is because it is the closest country in the so called old EU”. n

Aleś Michalevič, opposition leader in Belarus. Participant of the Forum in 2011.Photograph by Wikipedia.org

Democracy in Eastern Europe in retreat - panel discussion, 5.09.2012. Moderator: Malte Koppe - junior officer at the German - Polish Youth Office. Panelists: from the left side, Mats Bergquist (Swedish Institute of International Affairs), Igor Chubays (Institute of World’s Civilizations, Russia), Józef Oleksy (former Speaker of the Sejm and Prime Minister of Poland), Sergey Markov (Vice-Rector, Plekhanov Russian Economic University), Asim Mollazade (Chairman of the Democratic Reforms Party, Azerbaijan)Photograph by Aleksander Wolak

The European Union and its member states - each of them with its own poli-cies - tries to influence the democratic development and market economy tendencies in all three former Soviet countries. Official relations with Russia are still based on the “Partnership and Cooperation Agreement” terminated in 2007. The already negotiated Asso-ciation Agreement with Ukraine has not been ratified by the member states due to the Timoshenko case. In the case of Belarus, the EU faces a true deadlock. The countries is officially participating

in the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), part of the Eastern Partnership, but practical progress towards democ-racy and human rights is scarce on all levels. The Union is still implementing sanctions against numerous represent-atives of the official Belarusian appa-ratus. Lukashenko recently answered the EU with restrictions against the dip-lomatic representations by Poland and Sweden.

Bilateral relations of all the member states towards Russia, Ukraine and Belarus differ a lot depending on the

given country. Broadly speaking, they oscillate from a lower level of engage-ment (Southern European countries) through tangible economic interests (Germany) to severe security and stabil-ity considerations (Poland, Baltic coun-tries). Given the premise that collective and individual well-being and sustain-able economic growth is best possible in a democratic environment, there seem to be little alternative for Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. They must under-take reforms towards more open socie-ties in the long run. n

Country Population Political system and rating* GDP growth**

Russia 141,9 million Consolidated Authoritarian Regime (6,18) 4,3 %

Ukraine 45,9 million Transitional Government or Hybrid Regime (4,82) 4,7%

Belarus 9,5 million Consolidated Authoritarian Regime (6,68) 7,6 %* according to Freedom House,**GDP growth in 2011 (Belarus: 2010)

2012 is a crucial year for the develop-ment of democracy in all three above mentioned countries.

Malte Koppe

European Meeting Centre - Nowy Staw FoundationWe work for the benefit of civil soci-ety and solidarity between nations. Through education of all generations we enforce the idea of democracy, self-governance, social market economy and cultural understanding.

�http://eds-fundacja.pl

Foundation for the Development of the Education SystemThe Foundation’s main aim is support for activities serving the development of education in Poland. The FRSE realises its aim through the coordination of edu-cational programmes of the European Union, among others.

�http://frse.org.pl

Economic Forum in KrynicaEconomic Forum in Krynica is a signifi-cant event in Central and Eastern Eu-rope. Its mission is to create a favorable climate for the development of political and economic cooperation between the European Union and neighboring coun-tries. Held annually since 1991.

�http://forum-ekonomiczne.pl

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A lost generation?

Ewelina Chylińska, Poland

ANALYSIS The Deputy Managing Di-rector of the International Monetary System warns that if an appropriate effort is not made by young people, the living standards of this, and fu-ture decades will be lost. Concerns are being expressed across Europe. Mario Monti, the Prime Minister of Italy admits that he is doing his best to prevent the next generation from thrown on the scrapheap and Luca Volonté, has offered the depressing title of “Young Generation Sacrificed” in his report for the Council of Europe “Lost generation”. Some journalists and politicians are proclaiming and repeating the words provided by ex-perts. However, are their concerns accurate?Indeed, alarming data continuously ap-pears in reports from institutions such as the International Labour Organisa-tion, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the Eu-ropean Commission. Let us look at the latest statistics provided by Eurostat. In

May 2012 more than 5.5 million young people (under the age of 25) in the Euro-pean Union were unemployed and more than 3.4 million of them lived in the Eurozone. The youth unemployment rate was 22.7% in the EU and 22.6% in the Eurozone and importantly, it is the highest rate since 1983, the year that the statistics were first collated and pub-lished.

However, the situation differs in in-dividual countries. The worst situation can be observed in Spain where 52.1% of young people have no job and in Greece where the figure recently hit 52.8%. Slo-vakia currently stands at 38.8 %, Por-tugal – 36.4 %, and in Italy – 36.2%. This is incomparably better in Germany where some pupils start their trainee-ship as early as 15 years of age, and only 7.9% of young people cannot find a job. Similar trends exist in Austria - 8.3 % and the Netherlands – 9.2 %. The aver-age for the UE is 22.7% whereas the rate in Poland is 24.9 %. Therefore one can see a considerable divergence in the la-bour market throughout states.

The main reason behind the constant-ly deteriorating status of people be-tween the ages of 15-24 is the financial crisis which started in 2008. Until that time the situation was improving yearly

in many countries. Branislav Stanicek, an administrator at Committee of the Regions sees the slump in production with the simultaneous rise in labour costs in the period of 2000 to 2010 which we witnessed in Greece and Italy as one of the reasons behind such the situa-tion we find ourselves in today. This is because at the same time, labour costs in Germany went down. Young people are now employed on short-term con-tracts, and they have little experience or professional contacts and that’s why employers often dismiss them. Even though the un-e m p l o y m e n t rate has always been higher in this age group compared to other age groups, the annual rise in this rate, which is additionally influenced by poor educational systems, is not ad-justed to labour market needs, and has become one of the major political is-sues.

Furthermore, the IMF has also made recommendations regarding the im-provement of the situation. This in-cludes reducing barriers for competi-tiveness, preventing labour market segmentation, tax reforms which will fa-

Young people are now employed on short-term contracts, and they have little experience or professional con-tacts and that’s why employers often dismiss them.

Gabriela Virostková, Slovakia

OPINION Are the discussions between young leaders during the crisis neces-sary? Does education play an impor-tant role in the society? Can young people come up with solutions for a better future?

The Economic Forum of Young Lead-ers as such was a clear answer for all the above mentioned questions. We all agreed that the only way how to over-come the current condition of crisis is to invest in the new generation. What kind of investment did we mean? We talked about education, which should be more about quality than quantity. An education which should motivate young people to contribute to society as much as possible, and about the educa-tion which becomes the driving force of our society. Young Europeans are full of ideas which can change the EU, and transform it into the better place to live. The Forum represents an ideal place for sharing new ideas and finding solutions applicable in every corner of Europe.

By expressing own points of view, young leaders were confronted with dif-ferent opinions which required prepara-tion and courage. By putting ourselves into these situations, we are on our way to becoming great leaders. Why?

Because we learned how to face chal-lenges, and how to overcome intercul-tural differences and moreover, how to improve our skills every single day. We managed to respect each other and cre-ated an international team with ´out of box thinking´ which clearly express the main idea of this Forum.

The Forum in Nowy Sacz wasn’t only about leaders. I think we motivated each other to become great followers as well. That means that we helped each other to find a place in the team

where one can be the most productive. We clearly understood what the word team is to mean: Together Everybody Achieves More.

Last but not least, the Forum remind-ed all participants of the importance of all three factors which are decisive in sustainable development. It is our re-sponsibility to avoid the mistakes which caused the current crisis. To sum it up I would describe the Forum in following three words: challenging, productive and inspiring.

52.1% young people in Spain

have no job

5,5 Myoung people in the EUwere unemployed (May

2012)

Generation Lost or unlimited possibilities? Outlooks for the young people in times of economic crisis - panel discussion of young leaders in Krynica. 6.09.2012. Panelists: from the left side, Dariusz Suszyński (Rural Youth Association), Anna Moskwa (Quality & Development Institute), Mathew Davies (Programme Council), Dr Francisco Martínez Rivas (Catholic University of San Antonio), Dominika Kita (Chairman of the Students Parliament in Poland). Other panelist, not in picture: Monika Zaharie (University of Babes- Bolyai University, Romania).Photograph by Aleksander Wolak

Participants of the Forum disscussing during the workshops.Photograph by Aleksander Wolak

Challenging, productive, inspiring

cilitate growth, and increas-ing funds for improving the quality of edu-cation and re-search. There-fore, reform

not only aimed at the improvement of public expenditure but also general eco-nomic growth. This appears to be Chris-tine Legarde’s solu-tion in supporting the young generation effectively.

Rectifying this situ-ation does not only depend on the deci-sions made by gov-ernments, however. There is a need for cooperation between entrepreneurs and universities, where-by the funds for Young entrepreneurs

offer real support for students’ mobil-ity. However, above all, those affected or those who in couple of years’ time will likely find themselves in the same situation as Slovakians or Spaniards must be strong and down to earth, and therefore try to make sensible decisions about their future career resulting from the actual situation in the market and, if necessary, use all the possibilities and opportunities offered by the imple-

mentation of the Bologna Process. Looking for funds when starting up one’s own busi-ness, and the rela-tive mobility in European dimen-sion, which is un-

attainable without knowing languages. One requires the flexibility of the labour market, which can at the same time be

a remedy in creating current problems. We must make sure that pessimistic re-ports are proven false, and facilitate the energy of those who can find their way, despite difficult conditions. nForum’s Partner

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Forum SpotlightsPhotograph by Aleksander Wolak

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Mathew Davies, United Kingdom

EUROPE Some of you may recognise the title of this article. For it is a ref-erence to work published by Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of Great Britain. He argued that a gath-ering storm was on the horizon - prior to World War 2. Britain was at that time pursuing the degrading, and ir-responsible policy of effectively ig-noring the problems on the European continant. At that time the USA was inflicting cuts during a recession, thereby worsening the great depres-sion. Churchill was quite right to warn of troubled times ahead. Today we must awake from our inertia, the young people of Europe must have the courage to face the political divi-siveness and hostility of our time, or risk repeating the failures of history again. Ironically, one of the most fa-mous Churchillian quote is often used to dismiss and dissuade progressive poliies. It is “Democracy is the worst system except all others”. The ar-chitects of the sound bite and cheap political oratory fail to add the next part… “which have been tried”. Since then that quotation has been applied to free market economics and other ideologically based theo-ries. This is quite wrong. In this ar-ticle I will focus on the UK. Nevethe-less, the same argument is more or less applied across Europe in one form or another. Therefore, the battle of ideas must awaken from its slum-ber. If it does not, then yes, the end of the European Union will no longer be a question of if, but when.

Let us be clear on this, there is no time to loose. Some irresponsible political parties and socially misguided groups across Europe are tending the fields of innate nationalism whilst mainstream parties generally offer the same “private sector good, public sector bad mantra”. In defiance of the divisive and barbaric hyperbole noticeable in the spurious screams from Marine Le Pen and others of a hard right persuasion. Those with

the passion to engage in constructive politics and economic discussion ought to pursue, in dissent, alternatives to the status quo. Idealism and pragmatism is required in equal measure. Doing so may offer much needed emancipatory philosophy, politics and economic poli-cies. The cost of failing to do so is too expensive. The British writer George Orwell once wrote that “all that was re-quired of them (the public) was a primi-tive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever necessary”. Let us appeal to reason instead. At the Economic Forum of Young Leaders, we can set an exam-ple and lead the way to a better, bright-er, fairer and prosperous future.

In my opinion, to do this, we must ac-knowledge the social costs of austerity unleashed across our beautiful conti-nent. The economist Karl Polanyi once warned against self-interest and ideolo-gy masquerading as good public policy

and science. Unfortunately, cutting wel-fare and halting investment during a re-cession is confirmation of the continued hegemony of self-interest and ideology. Whilst reforms to the banking system are complex, process of money creation masked, the “private sector good, public sector bad mantra” soldiers on. An ar-gument severely under researched and weakly, albeit loudly, articulated. How-ever, my job here is to tackle two points. The notion that this policy of depression economics is science, and furthermore the bizarre assertions mushrooming from the very ideology underlying it. First of all then, let’s address the sup-posed science of it all. One MP I recently met in the UK pointed out that he was a believer in Austrian economics and argued that because the public debt is high and the deficit too wide, closure is essential. Furthermore, higher taxes are supposeldly not popular (for who?) therefore cuts are prioritized. Further-

more, taxing the rich is not necessary because…”The 1% rich pay a lot of taxes totaling 24%”. Perhaps, however this can be easily deconstructed. In the UK, the top 1% has more aggregate wealth than the whole bottom half of the popu-lation put together, and inequality has grown fivefold since 2006.

So what is wrong with that? Well, apart from the immorality of inequal-ity and the violence of poverty, there are the technical shortcomings of the above argument. Firstly, regardless of your country, do some research, and consider the level of public debt your state is in, in terms of history, particular compared with the end of WW2. The lev-el of debt in the UK in 2010 was around 70% of GDP totaling 760 billion pounds. This can be compared with the financial situation at the end of WW2 when pub-lic debt stood at 250% of GDP. After the war we built a Welfare State, invested in social housing and a national health service free at the point of delivery. We put people back to work and received returns for our investment. In 2010 the UK coalition government’s policy began implementing the opposite; it cut spend-ing and imposed reckless cuts. Regard-less, over two years later the public debt is now well over a trillion pounds, and the economic policy which aimed to ad-dress the deficit has failed to achieve its original target. Additionally, unemploy-ment and precarious work has consider-able increased and certainly intensified. This is coupled with violent social out-breaks, such as the UK riots in August 2011. Nevertheless, the answer by many right wing economists is to cut the pub-lic sector further, deeper and faster. This is often married to the laborious

argument (so often) for further flexible labour markets and the reduction of the supposed abhorrent bloated state. This illustrates the ideological roots to the austerity policy which inevitably leads

some commentators to argue that this is a class project – socialising the risks and privatising the gains of the failure in the private sector – and then reducing the size of the welfare state in response.

There is hope on the horizon and within socially responsible ideas and solutions promulgated by some politi-cal economists. The Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman saliently articulates the demand conundrum we are currently locked within. The lack of sales consti-tutes the very real problem with growth because public and private confidence is low, and therefore, lending, busi-ness start ups and spending is affected. This is a good old fashioned liquidity trap. Now, like a family, if my spend-ing is your income; and your spending is his or her income, and we all save at the same time, we all lose, and nobody makes capital. Remember, compound growth in economies is required in or-der to create real jobs, which are perma-nent and not temportary or part-time.

Nevertheless, the point I made on the panel in Krynica which aimed to ad-dress the issues pertaining ot the future of the young generation is relevant here. The austerians continue to point to the public sector as the cause of the prob-lem, and consequently the situation we are in. This is clearly spurious, vacuous and badly researched nonsense lead-ing to weak oration, albeit one continu-ously argued on a day-to-day basis. As pointed out by the political economist Alex Nunn, public spending in the UK is lower as a proportion of the economy than in the likes of France, Italy, Aus-tria and Belgium, as well as the Scan-dinavian countries. Yet the argument for a smaller state rages on. Finally, we must remind ourselves how the sov-ereign debt crisis actually emerged. It happened over many years through the deregulation of the financial markets al-lowing the rise of unsafe derivatives to

bloom, and set off by the trigger held by the housing bubble in the United States. Now the public sector through-out the EU is paying the price for the pri-vate sectors irresponsibility. Yet, there are alternatives to this savagery being wrecklessly inflicted upon the majority in EU nations.

The work conducted by Mario Monti, Prime Minister of Italy, and the particu-lar policy prescriptions in his report, is a good place to start. The liberaliza-tion of the internal market is absolutely essential to competitiveness and co-operation, and therefore growth and bargaining powers for unions. There is the capacity for everyone to make gains. Opportuni-ties for startup busi-nesses are imme-diate in the digital market and fields of e-commerce and e-procurement. With careful planning and coordination, states can liberalize key areas leading to business capacities for small and medium enterprises, and in key health areas such as dentistry. Moving in this direction would not only empower the direction of industrial policies, and fairer bargaining channels through the European Trades Union Congress, but it would also justify investment into an integrated European wide transport system. However, liberalization alone is too short sighted and cannot address the long term requirements needed to create a formidable, reliable and capa-ble European economy which can lead the way in the world. We ought to re-turn to the environmental movement which gained significant support until 2007. Investment opportunities were under development in sectors which could have fostered a greener future. Let us be clear, that vision and direction is not only desirable ethically, but also economically. Whether one believes in the science of climate change or not, the increase in global population and rise in resource demand must be tackled.

The EU should, and could, lead the way. This period between 2012 -2020 will nevertheless be a test of politi-cal courage which our generation will

tackle, and pay the price – in terms of political and economic successes or fail-ures. The Greek crisis and the national-ism movement have been put under the microscope by the media. Politicians in-evitably have to respond to that media, and the damage control operations pre-sented by the 24 hours sound bite cul-ture matter. However, they must never lose sight of the need to liberalize the internal market for short term reasons and invest in a green sustainable sec-tor for our children, and grandchildren. Unfortunately, trust in politicians has been severely damaged and will need to

be rebuilt by all mainstream par-ties. It does not help when taxes for the wealthi-est in Britain are reduced whilst welfare for the disabled has

been cut, and the health service in Eng-land continues to be privatized. This is not acceptable, and people, sooner or later will retaliate. If taxes went up in the UK to 50% for people earning over 100 thousand pounds 4.7 billion could be raised each year. This kind of policy, similar to those now being attempted in France, coupled with closing down tax loopholes and avoidance (totaling 80 billion in the UK a couple of years ago, and speculatively much more) and offshore capital storage. The leading politicians could send a genuine signal that a fairer system, and the possibility of a real redistributive economic policy, was being implemented on behalf of the commons.

With the German elections in 2013, and the European Parliamentary elec-tions in 2014 – the future is full of threats and opportunities. At the Forum we will debate the issues pertaining to institutional reform, the pooling of sov-ereignty, and the democratic deficit. Yet, we must be clear; there is no time to waste, and it is only by working to-gether that we can develop a vision and strategy worthy of Europe. n

Gathering storm: Is the end of the European Union a likely scenario?

What we need are strengths which we can only find together…we must have the full benefit of the single market’

Margaret Thatcher, 1986

Saying class does not matter in Brit-ain is like saying wine doesn’t matter in France

Nick Cohen, The Observer

There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning

Warren Buffet

Yet, we must be clear; there is no time to waste, and it is only by working to-gether that we can develop a vision and strategy worthy of Europe

Mathew Davies

THE FORUM POST 12 THE FORUM POST13

Exploring Leadership: the nature of successful leaderMariya Romanyshyn, Ukraine

LEADERSHIP This year the Economic Forum of Young Leaders addressed the vast variety of issues beginning with the perspectives of the young generation in Europe (especially tak-ing into account the current crisis), however, also democratic challenges facing Eastern Europe. On a more practical level the forum addressed youth unemployment, startup op-portunities for business, and how to find a reasonable balance between saving and spending in the attempt to identify the way out of the crisis. In the course of Forum, a discussion on the topic of leadership was also a subject of wide interest as well.

The topic about leadership is mainly covered and discussed in the context of businesses because obviously organiza-tional activity and entrepreneurship is the best way possible one can demon-strate, and illustrate, the strong corre-lation between a good leader and more practically, market share, the level of profits, stock price and/or the competi-tive advantage of a company. Accord-ing to the Global Leadership Forecast in 2011, organizations with the highest

quality of leaders were 13 times more likely to outperform their competitores in key bottom-line metrics such as fi-nancial performance. Although accord-ing to the 2011 Business Strategy Review in 2009, US companies spent $ 12 billion on leadership development, and more-over 60% of companies face leadership talent shortages which impede perfor-mance. Consequently the identification and attraction and therefore the devel-opment of leadership talent can be con-sidered as a key goal for business suc-cess.

I had the chance to talk about the main characteris-tics and traits of a good leader in modern society and what distinguishes leaders from those who are not with my panel guests: Grze-gorz Schetyna (Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Poland), and Denis MacShane (Member of Parliament, UK) and finally Luis Fraga (President of World Stability Observatory, Spain).

The conversation started with a ques-tion which asked whether there is any such a thing as a “born leader” or whether leadership is a learnt skill. Al-most unanimously, the panel speakers

responded that it was the broad expe-rience and professional competences, resilience and personal achievement characteristics that made him or her leaders in the long term. Moreover, the guests shared personal experiences about the turning points in their lives, such as when they realized that they had become leaders.

Afterwards we talked about the role of knowledge, expertise and educa-tion. I wondered if it is a must for con-temporary leaders to be experts in his/

her field or to have a general disposi-tion towards being a good manager or qualified organizer, and whether that was enough. The panelists tended to prioritize the latter,

and the conversation continued, and turned towards the differences which the role of education played and its path towards leadership, both in developed and developing countries.

Ultimately, leadership is seen as the process of a social influence. It stands for making team members efficient in the process of accomplishing a common task. Since the market is cruel, competi-tion is tough; the environment is inevi-

Being a leader in modern society means not only being able to cope with changes, but also the ability to promote useful changes.

Mariya Romanyshyn

How to be a good leader in contemporary businesses and society? - panel discussion. 5.09.2012. Moderator: Maria Romanyshyn (teaching assistant at Lviv Polytechnic National University). Panelists: Grzegorz Schetyna (Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Parliament of Poland), Luis Fraga (President of the World Stability Observatory, Spain), Denis MacShane (Member of Parliament, House of Commons, UK).Photograph by Aleksander Wolak

tably challenging and dynamic. Motiva-tion is a crucial issue. In that context the conversation turned to the subject of how to motivate teams, and where leaders should harvest sources of value in order to be constantly inspired.

The conclusion I have made after a very inspiring discussion is the follow-ing. Being a leader in modern society means not only being able to cope with changes, but also the ability to promote

useful changes. And to see the hidden opportunities in every setback and chal-lenge and to go beneath and beyond those opportunities; it is necessary to be persistent and one must be ready to go an “extra mile”; Furthermore, he/she must be able and confident to take risks. More generally, leadership refers to constant achievement orien-tation, emotional maturity, flexibility and adaptability, rationality and a clear

strategic view, embodied in integrity and communicational openness, cross-functional and cross-cultural process skills, social responsibility, dominance and charisma. And in spite of the fact that there is still no universal formula for becoming a good leader in the con-temporary world, a strong will is, I be-lieve, the key ingredient. n

Voices of EuropeNatalie Antkowiak, Germany

OPINIONS We, the youth of Europe, have listened to a lot of contributions and sometimes very heated debates. We asked a lot of questions. But what do the participants actually think about these issues? We asked three charismatic young leaders the fol-lowing questions. What does the EU mean to you? Under what kind of environment do you feel like a Euro-pean? -What is most important for the future considering that we want to safeguard peace and prosperity? And finally, what is your contribution or recommendation for the future?

Maciej Boryn is from Poland and is based at the Research Institute of Social Science and Economy at Gdansk Univer-sity: ‘’I feel I´m a European at moments like these. When I can meet people from all over the world and when we can talk about the same ideas. Then I can see that all of us have the same problems and everyone can find a solution to-gether. The best way to save our future is to organize events like this … We are young people who don´t remember the past, for example the world wars. We should spend more time talking about the crisis of money and the real prob-lem, the economy. I have some advice for European economists, let´s think about all the mechanisms of the econo-my. We should unite Western and East-ern economies. Like Lech Walesa said in the panel discussion on the perspec-tives on young people, we have to look at Europe from above’’

Nataliia Sad is from Ukraine and based at the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation: She said that ‘’the EU

means a community of well-being as well as a platform for discussing urgent problems of humanity. We need to save the spirit of democracy and unity - unit-ed we are stronger. Therefore we must lead a campaign towards more aware-ness for the impact of European inte-gration on our personal lives - it can’t happen only on paper. But also in terms of transparency, therefore, we ought to favor a pragmatic approach - just like Youth in Action, and ERASMUS. People can learn how to deal with problems - it is like introducing a pill for a sickness’’.

Shalva Uriadmkopeli is from Georgia and is based at the Ministry of Economy

and Sustainable Development in Tbilisi, He told me that ‘’it is known histori-cally that my country was and will stay as a divider between Asia and Europe. Mentally it’s always European. Georgia, post Soviet Union chose the EU direc-tion. For my country and for me espe-cially it means open economic borders between states, and more safety and life security. I Hope Georgia will become a member of it. However, most impor-

tantly for our future will be the peace-ful relationships between the countries. Common and more interesting projects will make peoples´ lives easier. First of all economic and territorial stability is most important nowadays and also of course a generally more secure world.

Georgia knows what it means to live and to think about safety in the XXI century. Indeed, the Globalization period is con-tinuing. The informational sphere is be-coming more and more common and of course there are the same problems for all countries such as Cyber, nuclear and ecological security. It would be better if countries would care about common problems and not about themselves’’. n

Natalie Antkowiak is from Dresden in Germany and studies at the European University in Viadrina (Frankfurt/Oder). She spoke with participants through-

out the forum to find out their points of view.

Participants of the 7th Economic Forum of Young LeadersPhotograph by Aleksander Wolak

THE FORUM POST 14 THE FORUM POST15

Yaroslav Melekh, Ukraine

POINT OF VIEW It was the first time that I have participated in the event. I de-cided to attend because I am dedi-cated to meeting other young people from all-over Europe.

This of course includes students from Portugal to Russia and from Italy to Sweden. The Economic Forum of Young Leaders was, however, not just a meet-ing of youngsters. But in realistic terms, the young leaders of Europe who are successful in business, politics, other forms of public activity or even science.

Therefore, it was important that the geography, and therefore scope of the Forum was not limited to countries within the EU and countries such as Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Turkey, the Balkan countries and the Caucasus re-gion, leading to a pan-European frame-work. Indeed, that is the ideal way to integrate different parts of Europe, and the way to erase stereotypes and pre-vent misunderstandings between coun-tries in the future.

It is hard to overestimate the total val-ue of the Forum because it depends on the personal contribution of each partic-ipant. Active participation is necessary, which means questioning the Forum’s guests and non-formal communication and in addition to understanding of the Forum’s issues. Those were the key fac-tors contributing to the success of this wonderful event. Moreover, the Forum was also a good place for creating new international projects, start-ups and, obviously, the sharing experiences and vital knowledge.

To my mind, the motto of the Forum’s idea is ‘Together we are power!’ is im-portant. That is what I mean by syn-ergistic effect which means acting to-gether. By doing this we can overcome

difficulties, whereas fighting alone we often loose. Actually, the most remarka-ble thing during both Forums – in Nowy Sacz and in Krynica – was the emphasis on pan-European cooperation, whilst respecting the past and the passion to create a new common history, free from stereotypes and malice and tolerant to everyone, everywhere.

I would now like to turn to the sub-jects covered in the forum. Taking into consideration the panels at the Forum

of Young Leaders, I want to stress on their usefulness. Indeed, most of the topics concerned ‘hot’ points in the development of economies and democ-racy in just-built ‘new’ Eastern Europe. Many points concerned not only the fi-nancial crisis in Europe but also prob-lems of democracy and prevailing au-thoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe. Of course, special guests at the Forum such as Lech Walesa, Tibor Navracsics and Günter Verheugen were worth lis-tening to and questioning. However, it was also a good opportunity to question many famous politicians and business-men from many different angles con-cerning Ukraine and the Eastern Part-nership and, of course, the crisis of the Eurozone.

Unfortunately, only a few of guests shared clear opinions in response to questions. The most prominent was Mr. Verheugen who answered my ques-

tion about Ukraine’s future and com-mented about Mrs. Tymoshenko’s role.

I agree with him 100%. Ukraine is not only about Tymoshenko. There are 45 million more who are now suffering from the triangle of ‘Tymoschenko – the EU – and Yanukovych’. Ukrainian people just feel like pawns between the white queen Tymoshenko only receiv-ing grey support from the West under the black king Yanukovych.

More generally, I want to under-line one more time the importance of non-formal communications between youngsters. The Economic Forum of Young Leaders was an ideal opportu-nity to visit Economic Forum in Krynica and to see how real businessmen and politicians share opinions, negotiate and discuss.

Active participation in the Forum is a good chance to gain new and impor-tant experiences, practical knowledge, and to inspire others and to be inspired by others! n

Be active in Europe! Together we are powerful!

Yaroslav Melekh is a 20 years old Masters student. He is studying Ac-counting and Auditing at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in Ukraine.

In addition to that he is also Head of International department at the

Ukrainian youth NGO ‘Foundation of Regional Initiatives’. He says that the Forum has helped him and can help

others in many ways.

Meet the Programme Council

On the last day participants of our Forum attended the Economic Forum in KrynicaPhotograph by Aleksander Wolak

VITALIY LIPICH is from Ukraine and is based in Dublin. For many years he has been working as a manager of Na-sha Sprava Centre in Lutsk. Currently he works as an advisor to the European Youth4Media Network e.V. He gradu-ated Volyn National University in Lutsk and the London School of Economics. His main fields of interest are democ-racy development, civil society issues, community media and web-TV as well as new technologies and startups.

MALTE KOPPE is from Germany and is based in Warsaw. He is the chairman of the programme council for 2012-2013. He is currently working as a junior of-ficer at the German-Polish Youth Office (DPJW/PNWM). This is an international organization which was established by the German and Polish government. It aims to foster cooperation among young people from Germany and Po-land. He graduated in Political Science from Münster (Germany) and Lublin (Poland). His former posts have includ-ed the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (Berlin) and the Nowy Staw Foundation (Lublin). His main interests include the international cooperation throughout civil society and contemporary develop-ments in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Malte is a talented linguist and speaks German (native), Polish, English and Russian.

MARIYA ROMANYSHYN is Ukrainian and is currently a teaching assistant at Lviv Polytechnic National University whilst pursuing a PhD degree in Economics. She has a long history in academia. She graduated in 2007 with a BA degree in Management and in 2008 with an MA. More broadly she is interested in the subject of economics/business: entre-preneurship, organizational manage-ment (strategic management, financial management, HR management, and leadership), risk management, and marketing. However, she is also a hu-man being and therefore enjoys her life beyond economics, business, and inter-national relations. For example she en-joys playing the piano, singing, tennis, and swimming.

MICHELE TURATI is a young Italian econ-omist. He is currently working for Hewlett-Packard in Wroclaw. He gradu-ated from the University of Brescia and in the past he acted as a Project Manag-er for the World Trade Center in Brescia and East Lombardy between 2010 and 2012. He has proven expérience as an administrator. This can be observed as the Secretary General for the FATF (the Netherlands, 2010) and as the former Fi-nancial Director of AEGEE-Europe (Bel-gium, 2006-2007). He enjoys jogging and cooking tiramisu for his guests.

MICHAL WOJCIK is a Polish graduate of in-ternational relations. He studied at Ma-ria Curie Sklodowska University in Lub-lin. He is the programme director of the Economic Forum of Young Leaders. Fur-thermore he is one of the key organiz-ers of this event, and has been involved since 2006. He works at the European Meeting Centre at the Nowy Staw Foun-dation. His main fields of interest in-clude political education programmes, civil society issues, community media and web-TV as well as international pol-icy, especially the relationship between the EU and it’s neighbour countries.

MAT DAVIES is from Wales in the United Kingdom. He is the chief editor of the forum post. He studied in Leeds and Cardiff and specialises in political econ-omy with an interest in financial and labour market policies at the European level. In the past he has worked as a lec-turer in Ukraine, Taiwan, Poland and Germany. As a journalist he has writ-ten for several newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle (USA), the Western Mail (UK) and as an economic and business columnist for the Krakow Post (Poland). He maintains a blog at www.mathewdavies.eu

I have known Tymoshenko for many years. Please, do not make her an icon of democracy! It was ridiculous by some EU countries to stop negotiations with Ukraine regarding her situation. That has nothing to do with democracy.

Günter Verheugen

THE FORUM POST 16

Mathew Davies, United Kingdom

POINT OF VIEW The Economic Forum of Young Leaders is an annual meeting which is spearheaded by the Nowy Staw Foundation in Poland. It al-lows young people throughout the private, public and voluntary sector to network and learn from the busi-ness models deployed in their nation states.Leaders from across Europe travel to the event to debate competition and mo-nopoly policies, and political initiatives which target growth and sustainability in 21st century Europe.

It is the largest forum of its type and past speakers have included leading politicians and economists from nation-al and global financial institutions. For 5 years I have witnessed the initiative develop. During that time participants have discovered their economic and po-litical voice and established long-term partnerships and found successful and rewarding employment.

Michał Wójcik, the Director of the Fo-rum says ‘’we want to bring together young ambitious people from the EU, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Caucasus. They have so much in com-mon, but they rarely meet and share their experience. We want to change that. We want to create a young peo-ple’s Davos, where young Europeans will have a chance to discuss European and global economic and political is-sues’’. Young people tend to participate because they are passionate and ambi-tious. I first became involved because I wanted to challenge the proponents of wage repression and labour market flex-ibility. Others have had the tenacity to discuss competition, progressive taxa-tion, and growth policies in addition to sustainability initiatives and gender balance. This year I will be chairing

the subject of growth vs. austerity and will introduce the Welsh Governments approach to the future labour market, and try to get people thinking about the role of investment and money creation. In Wales, programs like Jobs Growth Wales and Sure Start target youth un-employment and early year’s develop-ment. They address some of the social costs presented by the dou-ble-dip recession we are ex-periencing. Those projects are vitally important today with anti European attitude sweeping the continent. It is Important to realise that for states to have the power to affect real decisions, today that comes by working with the EU, not against it. In the UK, the British government has failed to set a bench-mark for securing inward business investment and positive foreign relations. I am therefore proud to be part of a more rational and co-operative movement. Indeed, the forum demon-strates what is possible when networks work together. Unfortunately, the initia-tives which make it possible are rarely promoted in my constituency called Monmouthshire. Sadly, three years ago I approached one organisation in Cardiff which offered the chance for youngsters to gain experience and skills through the EU funded program called Youth-in-Action. I was told by one or-ganiser that they chose not tell eve-ryone about them because ‘everyone’ would then apply for them. Whilst this is one case, it demonstrated the broader resilience to EU programs – something I have continually encountered in the UK. In contrast to the short-term think-ing and self interested approach some of those organisations and politicians hold with regard to the EU, it is up to

the young people, the very people who will inherit the post-austerity economic landscape to speak up, and plot and plan the society they would like to see emerge. This is just as important as it was in the first half of the 20th century. With the centreground of politics under threat due to pressures presented by the euro zone crisis, general political inertia

and the worrying rise of far right parties. A productive debate is demanded with leaders throughout Europe and beyond. We will be addressing issues pertaining to productive, sustainable and respon-sible ways for businesses to start up and for states to co-operate. In the future, the programme council will work hard to develop a young leader’s think tank which will bring together empirical evi-dence throughout the continent, and develop policy prescriptions. n

A Welsh overview of the Economic Forum of Young Leaders

custom business solutionshttp://webbison.com

Editorial board “The Forum Post“CHIEF EDITOR:

Mathew DaviesEDITOR:

Michał WójcikLAYOUT AND EDITING:

Źmicier Hryškievič

© 2012, All rights reserved.

ADDRESS:Skłodowskiej-Curie 3,20-029 Lublin, Poland

EMAIL:forum@forum-leaders.eu

Reproduction and dissemination of any of the information contained in ths magazine is en-couraged, provided that The Forum Post (forum-leaders.eu) is acknowledged as the source of the material.

AUTHORS:Natalie AntkowiakEwelina ChylińskaMathew DaviesMalte KoppeYaroslav MelekhMariya RomanyshynGabriela VirostkováMichał Wójcik

Forum’s Partner

Europe in crisis - panel discussion. 5.09.2012Photograph by Aleksander Wolak