The main prize of European Business Club Poland “Victoria Europae” is the prize for special achievements and personification of values and ideals cherished by the Association. Guided, in our activities, by the system of these values and recognising them as overriding and timeless, European Business Club Poland aims at indicating individuals, institutions, initiatives and ventures manifesting these values, and by awarding them the main prize it makes them, in the symbolic aspect, members of its community. At the same time, the Association would like to draw the attention of a wider audience to the real authorities, resulting from their landmark achievements and life attitude serving as examples worthy to be followed.
The Economic Forum in Krynica Zdrój which in 2016 was awarded the main prize of European Business Club Poland, is a very special venture because of the extremely broad spectrum of subjects, activities and influences it deals with, but first of all, because it is a significant element of the public debate in Poland and Europe.
Having been organised for 26 years, the Economic Forum in Krynica Zdrój is the project during which political, economic and intellectual elites of Central and Eastern Europe engage in a dialogue about the future of Europe and the whole world. Due to numerous foreign delegations, the type of addressed problems and various accompanying events, since the very beginning the Krynica Forum has been compared to the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland. Each year this project gathers a few thousand of attendees from 60 countries and about 200 commercial, media and institutional partners. Within the framework of this Forum, over two hundred events – debates, plenary sessions, presentations, are held. This is a recognised place for delivering important political and economic declarations.
The concept of the Krynica meetings emerged in 1992. Initially the Forum was the place for exchanging views, ideas and proposals of cooperation between Poland and its neighbours. In this regard it was guided by recommendations developed by the Polish “Kultura” publication in Paris, especially by editor-in-chief Jerzy Giedroyc, that “the Poland’s safety and steady development depends on whether Poland will succeed in establishing good-neighbourly relationships with its neighbours”. Then, the issues addressed at the meetings in Krynica covered the Eastern policy of Poland. The first Forum was held in autumn 1992. It was attended by almost 100 participants (most of them were from Poland). The formula of the Krynica forum changes together with amendments in the European politics and economy. The list of participating countries is still extended, and each subsequent year of meetings requires new and current topics to be discussed. The recent fora were attended by the representatives from over 60 countries from Europe, North America and Asia who discussed, among other things, international security, and also environmental threats and socio-cultural transformations.
On 6-8 September this year, the 26th Economic Forum was held in Krynica-Zdrój. The leitmotif of this year’s debate “Europe in the face of challenges – united or divided?” reflects the current situation on the Old Continent. During this year’s Forum, over 3.5 thousand guests: heads of governments and parliaments, ministers and parliamentarians from countries in our region, CEOs of the biggest companies, experts and representatives of scientific circles, discussed the most recent problems of the worldwide economy as well as political and economic issues. Almost 600 journalists from several dozen of countries in the world were accredited.
This year Krynica witnessed important economic declarations made by members of the Polish government. Prime Minister Beata Szydło declared to provide entrepreneurs with any assistance and create the deregulatory package, and also promote Polish start-ups and organise the First Congress of Innovators in Warsaw in 2017. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Development Mateusz Morawiecki supported the trade unions’ and social organisations’ initiative on a ban on trade on Sundays, and he also positively assessed the banks’ re-Polonization, provided that transactions are based on market parameters, and he disclosed details of functioning a new governmental agency of which purpose is to support Polish exporters – the Polish Agency for Trade and Investments which will replace the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiZ). Deputy Minister of Finance Wiesław Jasiński announced the tightening of the VAT system and Minister of Energy Krzysztof Tchórzewski declared that at the turn of year, the decision on constructing – in Poland – two coal-fired plants in the most modern in the world technology – the clean-coal technology, will be made.
The Plenary Session “Central and Eastern Europe – can it speak with one voice?” was the opportunity for the next meeting of the Visegrád Group leaders: Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło, Hungarian Prime Minister Wiktor Orban, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Bohuslaw Sobotka, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico, and also Prime Minister of Ukraine Wołodymyr Hrojsman. During the debate, the heads of governments discussed the manner in which social and economic policy should be shaped to ensure that it serves the interests of all citizens. As commonly pointed out, the Group V4 has huge potential and is in position to change the future of Europe for the better. The Prime Ministers emphasized that despite many differences between the countries, at the EU level they can reach a compromise and face global challenges. Krynica is a good place to build good projects – and we are building such project together. The Visegrád Group is often perceived by their colleagues from the EU as a circle of rebellious prime ministers who always have their own opinion on each and every subject. But it turns out that the truth is on our side – Prime Minster Beata Szydło said at the Session.
Prominent figures from the political scene of the European countries, among others, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Tibor Navracsics, Chairman of the Parliament of Lithuania Loreta Grauziniene, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration of Ukraine Iwanna Kłympusz-Cyncadze, Minister of Energy of Lithuania Rokas Masiulis, Minister of Energy of Ukraine Ihor Nasałyk, Minister of Labour, Family, Social Protection and Seniors of Romania Dragoş–Nicolae Pîslaru and Prince Michael von Liechtenstein took part in the debate of the 26th Economic Forum.
In 2016, the Polish Diaspora Forum organised by the Senate of the Republic of Poland and the Economic Forum was held for the first time in Krynica. Politicians and entrepreneurs discussed the Poland’s policy towards the Polish Community Abroad and Poles living abroad and the shaping of the identity outside the country. The discussed topics included the issues related to innovation, science, progress as well as building economic ties, using scientific achievements, intellectual potential and success of our compatriots living abroad. ”We want to engage the Polish Community Abroad in a series of important events in Poland because Poles living abroad are our treasury; they are almost 20 million, thus huge potential” – Speaker of the Senate of the Republic of Poland Stanisław Karczewski said and announced that next year the Polish Diaspora Forum would be held again within the framework of the Economic Forum in Krynica.
The International Conference “Europe of the Carpathians” initiated by Speaker of the Polish Sejm Marek Kuchciński was an integral part of the 26th Forum. Participants of this conference discussed, for two days and in eight thematic panels, the most important issues pertaining to Central and Eastern Europe: from history, culture and social affairs to economy and current European problems. More than forty speakers (parliamentarians, politicians, local government officials and intellectuals) from various countries, including Poland, exchanged their opinions and experiences on current issues of our region. The Forum brought together guests from Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Germany, Poland, Russia, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine, the United States, Hungary, Great Britain, Italy.
Each year Krynica becomes the world economic centre and provides an excellent opportunity to hold meetings and informal dialogue during which politicians and business representatives exchange their views. According to many attendees, one of the advantages of this event is that business representatives have the opportunity to directly present their observations and comments on economic and regulatory policy implemented by governments and European institutions.
