Next month, the term of the Kingdom of Belgium's presidency of the Council of the European Union ends, coinciding with the upcoming European elections.

What achievements should be noted in a brief summary?

The presidency of the Council of the European Union is rotational and is held by each member state in turn. It involves directing the Council’s work on EU legislation, ensuring the continuity of the EU’s work, managing legislative procedures, and fostering cooperation among member states. The Council of the European Union—a treaty body—collaborates with elected members of the European Parliament and the European Commission through its presidency, which primarily performs mediatory functions.

The period of the Belgian presidency, from January 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024, coincided with the ongoing war in Ukraine and the 20th anniversary of the accession of nearly a dozen countries to the EU, including Poland. The goals of the presidency, intended to bring about a new impetus for change, included: defending the rule of law, democracy, and unity; enhancing competitiveness, achieving a fair ecological transition, strengthening the EU’s social and health program; protecting people and borders; and promoting the global dimension of Europe.

These priorities can be found on the social media of the Belgian presidency.

The highlight of Belgium’s six-month presidency was the extraordinary meeting of leaders within the European Council, held from April 17 to 18, 2024. During this meeting, the Council of the European Union was called upon to implement an aid plan for Ukraine by providing equipment and ammunition to the front. The conclusions of the meeting addressed the need to gather heads of state in the country holding the presidency, an event which had not previously taken place in Brussels during this heated legislative period.

Did the measures adopted for wartime overshadow the socio-economic situation in Europe? Not necessarily, as at the end of the presidency, it was possible to vote on the important Migration Pact for Western Europe, adopt the Artificial Intelligence Act (a regulation of the European Parliament and Council), and a directive on improving working conditions through online platforms. Although these legal acts are not yet binding, as they have not been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, they were adopted between March and May of this year. It is hoped that they will be implemented in the next presidency—Hungarian. We will continue to monitor and present the results of the current leadership in the EU on our websites.

Sources:
1) https://www.consilium.europa.eu/pl/council-eu/presidency-council-eu/– Accessed: 19.05.24.
2) https://belgian-presidency.consilium.europa.eu/en/programme/priorities/ – Accessed: 19.05.24.
3) https://www.pb.pl/dodatkowy-szczyt-na-wniosek-belgii-1213599 – Accessed: 19.05.24.

The third edition of the Sustainability Leadership Academy has concluded!

The grand finale took place at the Warsaw Stock Exchange on December 4, 2023. Participants of this program attended dozens of training meetings led by experts from various fields of science, ecology, business, and law. Sustainability Leadership Academy 3 aimed to create projects focusing on the main principles of ESG. Work on these projects lasted for 7 months, after which they were presented at the final gala, where the jury meticulously and demandingly evaluated them.

The project themed “ESG Municipal Academy” emerged as the winner, focusing on creating training sessions on sustainable development for municipalities, aimed at raising awareness among the society.

Sustainability Leadership Academy 3 was a time of change and development. We can proudly mention lectures given by Prof. Dr. hab. Jerzy Hausner on “Regenerative governance transformation,” as well as Joanna Erbel discussing “The action of developmental cooperatives and economic democracy as tools for building urban resilience.” Workshops during SLA 3 were also conducted by experts such as Dr. Maciej Kawecki, Dawid Zieliński (President of Columbus Energy), Aureliusz Leżeński (President of the Robinson Foundation), and many others.

During the final gala, the President of the Lions Warsaw Foundation, Michał Wigurski, stated, “Elements influencing sustainable development in the social sphere are essential to develop the world so that no one feels excluded and everyone can derive value from the world around us in the right way.”

On the other hand, the President of IME, Mariusz Borkowski, mentioned, “What matters in creating such events are not the funds, but the willingness to share experiences through such actions. This is how we become better leaders, managers, and better people.”

We were delighted to host Marek Dietl, the President of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, at the gala. Additionally, our evening gala was enriched by the visit of District Governor 121 – Hanna Sobiech, and we were honored by the performance of Natalia Lesz!

It was an exceptional evening full of joy, conversations, and new ideas. And we invite you to the Sustainability Leadership Academy 4 in the summer of 2024!

On December 2, 2022, Max Bojarski, along with other representatives of European organizations promoting humanistic values, participated in a high-level meeting with Margaritis Schinas – Vice President of the European Commission, and Othmar Karas – First Vice President of the European Parliament. The meeting was part of the consultations of the European Commission regarding the implementation of Article 17 (cooperation of EU authorities with representatives of organizations promoting humanistic values).

The main topic of the meeting revolved around the question of the impact of the war in Ukraine on the European Union, both currently and in the future. It was a fruitful discussion on supporting Ukraine, defending European democratic values, fundamental rights, and the rule of law. Max Bojarski addressed, among other things, the potential impact of psychological education on the development of societies in the spirit of sustainable development, and drew attention to some threats to freedom of belief within the EU coming from outside the Community’s borders.

Following this meeting and in response to the issues raised during it, the European Commission decided to appoint Frans van Daele as a Special Envoy for promoting freedom of religion and belief outside the EU. Mr. van Daele assumed this position immediately. The Special Envoy will report to Vice President Schinas, who is responsible for conducting the Commission’s dialogue with churches and religious communities, as well as with philosophical and non-denominational organizations. It is important to note that freedom of religion or belief is under attack in many parts of the world, hence the role played by Frans van Daele will be crucial in this regard

The grand finale of the second edition of the “Sustainability Leadership Academy” program is here!

Balloons, Jupiter-like glow, and a champagne atmosphere were all present at the grand finale gala concluding the “Sustainability Leadership Academy” program!

On Thursday, August 25th, at the Warsaw School of Business, participants presented their final projects prepared during the program. Five groups showcased five exceptional ideas for sustainable development initiatives. After each presentation, a panel of experts evaluated the projects.

Adding to the academy’s atmosphere of gamification, the event concluded with the announcement of results and the ceremonial awarding of prizes to the program participants. The positive atmosphere was further enhanced by the academy coordinator, Usamah Afifi, announcing the start of the third edition of the SLA program.

After the excitement subsided, everyone present enjoyed refreshments, accompanied by long conversations over glasses of wine.

For the second time in organizing the SLA program, we succeeded in raising awareness among young people in the field of sustainable development, which we addressed through the four pillars: technology, personal development, entrepreneurship, and society. By imparting ESG competencies, we aim to highlight the importance of this foundation for a better future, contributing to overall well-being.

Sponsor gali

Partnerzy strategiczni

Estonian students are ranked first among their European peers in the PISA survey. In the digital nation, technology plays an important role also in education. All schools in Estonia use e-solutions such as digital learning materials or e-school for communication between school and home. Digital solutions have also helped to cope with remote teaching during the pandemic.

Recent years have seen rapid growth in the Estonian EdTech sector. Good public-private cooperation helps to face challenges, solve crises and create new educational solutions.

? 24 November 2021, at 01:00 pm (GMT+1)

? Registration link: https://easdigi.typeform.com/to/x593FqpF

? Programme: https://worksup.com/app#id=EDUCATIONESTONIA

? Estonian partners : EAS Enterprise Estonia , EdTech, Education Estonia, Estonia E-briefing center

Information about the previous Forum:

https://fime.pl/en/poland-estonia-educational-forum/

The Institute of European Thought has become a contents partner of the Carbon Footprint Summit 2021, which took place in Cracow on 8-9 October.

The Carbon Footprint Summit is an international climate summit bringing together the worlds of business, science, technology and social activism in an effort to mitigate climate change. The aim of the event is to build an interdisciplinary climate dialogue between representatives of science, sustainable business, climate activism and society in order to develop new solutions, establish fruitful business partnerships and activate society and institutions to take environmentally responsible actions.

Over the course of 3 days, our founders discussed issues of sustainable development, assessed the challenges facing business in the area of green marketing, and exchanged views on issues of future competence.

Bartosz Dubiński, President of the Board, Mazovian Energy Agency

A reading of Krzysztof Lech’s paper on socially responsible business tools.

The paper showed how this source can provide wider access to potential investors-philanthropists, much more capital, and by increasing specialization improves competitiveness in the post-industrial economy. The speech met with great interest of the audience, which was evidenced by the growing number of listeners, among whom were representatives of the interface of science, business, and the free audience – regardless of age.

On the same day of the congress, our next expert Dr. Karol Sikora quoted studies showing the consumption of concrete in the world, stressing that concrete is currently the most widely used material, and the amount of concrete consumed exceeds even taking into account the commonly used measures of weight the amount of food absorbed. Such a large amount of material consumed as our expert pointed out is not without its impact on the carbon footprint. Concrete emissions have already reached 8% of man-made CO2. The speech also discussed possible ways to change these trends and provide sustainable solutions. Dr. Sikora pointed to wood as a material that meets both major requirements for climate change mitigation: it reduces emissions and provides CO2 storage. Therefore, according to our expert, the use of wood for construction is not even carbon neutral, it is carbon negative. The material, as emphasized by Dr. Karol Sikora at the end, which will revolutionize the construction industry, potentially creating the 21st century, the century of wood, may be cross-laminated timber.

On the second day of the congress, the Institute of European Thought organized a panel discussion, the participants of which debated about the competence of the future.

The panel was moderated by Dr. Maciej Kawęcki President of Lema Institute, and its participants were: Victoria Iwanowska-Small Step Matters, Marcin Bryła-Job Impulse, Radosław Drzewiecki-Leanpassion, Henryk Kwapisz-Saint Gobain, Julien Denier- graduate of Sustainability Leadership Academy conducted by the Institute of European Thought.

The panelists discussed how digitalization influences the development of employees’ competencies. They searched for an answer to the question of what the work of the future might look like, whether it will support or disrupt interpersonal relations. They discussed how robotization will affect the employee market.

Henryk Kwapisz emphasized the high ability of people of the younger generation to lead changes in the field of ecology, who because of their age are able to carry the necessary energy for change. He mentioned that the world in 30 years according to one of the scenarios may be even more concentrated in larger cities, where the competitiveness of work will therefore be even greater.

Victoria Iwanowska suggested that company values determine the situation in companies and ultimately influence company competencies, she foresees the future of the manufacturing labor market as working in the dark in automated spaces, and human labor as a hybrid. She also stated that she believes in the development of higher competencies in humans as automatons take over so-called lower functions.

Radosław Drzewiecki pointed out the extraordinary need for cohesion in organizations, such as common understanding of goals, trust, and the need to adapt to change both for entire companies and individual employees. Answering the question about the future of the labor market, he referred to studies that indicate more effective work of stationary teams in comparison to remote teams. He also pointed out the need to develop the competencies of leaders in organizations, especially in relation to remote work.

Julien Denier appealed for a better understanding of young people, who are the generation bringing change, he also spoke about the needs of remote work and the associated increase in competence.

Marcin Bryła mentioned how the pandemic has accelerated the need for digital competence, how this process will progress and how it may eventually end.

He mentioned that he believes in shorter, hybrid work, the emergence of new jobs, he also pointed to the need for high adaptation to change of new employees.

At the end of a rich congress day, graduates of the recently completed Sustainability Leadership Academy shared their version of scenarios for the development of the world situation, especially in view of the expected climate change and environmental degradation in the context of the developing epidemic situation.

SLA graduates pointed out that humanity is a species whose activities on our planet bring major changes, often fatal in their consequences. We forget that we treat the reservoir of our existence with neglect. Humanity has always been evolving, it coexists with other species on the planet, and it causes damage, which can result in pandemics, global warming, loss of biodiversity, etc.

The human species is not the only one, as stated by the participants, and in a situation of threat or crisis in which we live, it should turn towards nature. It is worth making a more conscious use of the goods at our disposal, return to the fundamental natural truths and modify our behavior to be more neutral to the Planet. A commitment to sustainable development will be the key that opens the door to safety and well-being for future generations. The graduates reminded us tha every day we see around us the effects of the Covid19 coronavirus pandemic. But do we ever think about what are the real causes of such epidemics? The presenters focused on the climatic changes occurring on earth, of which three are worth mentioning. The first of them is climate migration, which in a few decades will be a very serious problem. They cause uncontrolled growth of cities and, because of that, the occurrence of outbreaks of infectious diseases among the weakened population. Another threat are large animal farms where, thanks to antibiotics, breeders can focus on earnings at the expense of unethical animal living conditions. The huge number of animals in a relatively small space increases the chances of virus mutations among animals and transmission to humans. The last problem discussed was deforestation – in this process the natural habitats of animals are destroyed, which with weakened immunity develop diseases more easily, and migrating to more urban areas pose a serious epidemic threat.

So how can this be remedied? The solution ultimately recommended by the panelists should be greater concentration of human and financial resources in predetermined areas of increased epidemic risk. To do this, use the previously described problems in a version of map data (e.g. deforestation map, animal farming map) and overlay them to create the high-risk areas. This will facilitate more effective prevention of future pandemics by applying prevention methods to the areas described.

Speakers – Patrycja Jarząbek, Honorata Witamborska, and Julien Denier

During this intensive weekend, the Institute of European Thought also made valuable contacts – including with the Small Step Matters initiative.

It is a well-organized crowdfunding platform working in the field of ESG. The cooperation may bring measurable results in the area of promoting the idea of sustainable development in our country.

The best summary of these few days and the great work of the representatives of the Institute of European Thought should be quoting a part of IME’s mission:

“Through education, we want to build an informed, free and self-governing society, fostering attitudes consistent with the idea of sustainable development.”

The Institute of European Thought is an organization propagating values which are the foundation of the European Community, binding its nations together and determining the direction of development. These values are peace, freedom, tolerance, justice, humanism, solidarity, work and care for the human environment.