On October 24-25, the Sixth German-Polish Round Table on the Eastern Europe took place at the Castle on Water in Wojnowice. The event gathered diplomats, experts, scholars, journalists, politicians, representatives of the third sector, and local government officials from Poland, Germany, Ukraine and other countries.
The first panel focused on discussing the prospects of Western support for Ukraine and attitudes of non-Western actors to the war against Ukraine waged by Russia. The debate centred around the future of this aid and the need to establish new assistance formats, particularly in light of the growing influence of far right in Europe and the potential election of Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. election.
The next debate paid a special attention to NATO’s future and structure of European security architecture in the context of the U.S. elections. Participants discussed the similarities and differences in how Poland and Germany perceive the challenges to continental stability originating from neo-imperial Russia’s foreign policy and the uncertain prospects of transatlantic cooperation in the event of Donald Trump winning the presidential election.
The second day of the conference opened with a discussion on the rising influence of various pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian political forces that question the rationale behind supporting Ukraine and advocate for policies more sensitive to the Russian perspective. Issues of disinformation and the rising “pacifist” sentiment among European societies were highlighted.
The conference concluded with a debate on the future of civil defence and the fight against hybrid threats from Russia. The main points of discussion were the lessons learned by Europeans from the ongoing war in Ukraine and how, through joint efforts and cooperation among Central European countries, strong and resilient societies can be built to withstand the challenges posed by Russia.
The sixth edition of the Polish-German Round Table on the Eastern Europe was organized by the College of Eastern Europe in Wrocław in cooperation with Austausch e.V, with support from the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Warsaw and the Polish-German Cooperation Foundation, and the City of Wrocław.
