Summary of the 12th European Economic Congress in Katowice and the 5th European Tech and Start-up Days

During the 12th European Economic Congress and 5th European Tech and Start-up Days, the International Congress Centre in Katowice was visited by nearly 3,500 guests. Over 6,700 people have registered to take part in the events on-line. The impressive number of users who watched on-line debates between 2-4 September 2020 exceeded 100,000.

The first meeting of this scale after a break caused by the pandemic was organised in a safe manner, ensuring comfortable participation on-site while maintaining a social distancing, and at the same time all the debates were made available on-line, for everyone interested in the events. The new reality obviously does not allow for comparison between the previous and the current year’s events,” says Wojciech Kuśpik, organiser of the European Economic Congress and European Tech and Start-up Days. The rapidly changing world, the experience of the pandemic and lockdown, questions about the future and development priorities – all of these things have made this year’s debates continue the mission of open discussion about the European future,” says Wojciech Kuśpik.

The 12th European Economic Congress in Katowice was inaugurated with a debate titled “Europe of the Future”.  The speakers jointly discussed how to tackle the challenge faced by the Old Continent, whether the currently formulated priorities of EU policy are appropriate to the new challenges and whether the programme for rebuilding the European economy after the crisis, the Next Generation of the EU, is a sound economic plan.

“Grand projects have always built the strength of the EU. Among them was enlargement to include new countries, so important and natural for us, but requiring a joint decision,” said Jerzy Buzek, Member of the European Parliament, former President of the EP and Prime Minister of Poland, President of the EEC Council, opening the debate. “The coronavirus has played its part in such a role being assigned to the European Green Deal. Spanning the next 30 years, the strategy that has been long in the planning is supposed to save the planet, create jobs and stimulate the development of the EU. The coronavirus does not relieve us from responsibility for the earth; if anything, it means that we should care about it more than ever. In the short-term perspective, European ambitions are supposed to be supported by the Digital Europe and EU New Generation programmes. We must be ahead of schedule,” said the moderator.

Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for, among other things, foresight, emphasised in an interview with Jerzy Buzek that scientists had been forecasting a global pandemic but their warning was not met with a preventive or preparatory political actions. This is an important lesson to me from the situation in which we find ourselves – how to take into account the analyses of scientists, how to translate them into policy. What matters is that other world powers treat companies from Europe in the same way that we treat companies from other countries. Europe expects reciprocity. Digitalisation and green revolution, twin mega trends, must be utilised by Europe in order for the community to be more resilient and independent, both economically and politically,” said Maroš Šefčovič.

The discussion was also supported by Teresa Czerwińska, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank; Jerzy Kwieciński, Minister of Investment and Development 2018-2019, President of PGNiG; Rafał Modrzewski, CEO, co-founder of ICEYE; Hans-Gert Pöttering, Member of the European Parliament 1997-2014, President of the European Parliament 2007-2009.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki met with entrepreneurs present at the 12th European Economic Congress in Katowice and the 5th European Tech and Start-up Days. Many debates at the 12th European Economic Congress in Katowice were focused on the changes that are taking place and those that are still awaiting us. The leading topics were the transformation of the electricity sector related to climate policy, and the digital transformation of the whole economy, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The European Green Deal is also an important plan for Katowice and the entire region. It is essential for this transition to be just so that no region is left behind. If this, or any other region, is left behind then the transition cannot be just, and it will not be accepted by the society,” said Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, at the European Economic Congress. “We need to make sure that all coal-mining regions are ready for the change ahead. There is no way back from the energy transition; we have been discussing it with regions representatives, and they are well aware of that,” underlined Timmermans.

During the three congress days (2-4 September), the International Congress Centre in Katowice hosted a total of over 70 debates and discussions with about 400 speakers. Congress discussions were broadcasted on the websites of the European Economic Congress and European Tech and Start-up Days, as well as on the websites of Grupa PTWP and of the media patrons of the events: dziennik.pl, dziennikzachodni.pl, forsal.pl, GazetaPrawna.pl, pb.pl rp.pl, wyborcza.biz.

The 12th European Economic Congress and the 5th European Tech and Start-up Days, organised under special circumstances, were held in compliance with all applicable health and safety regulations.