The meeting that took place in Sopot on 16th July, 2018, and it was a second workshop of a series called “Let’s Talk About Europe” of the “Liberal Dialogue for Europe” project that will be developed in Poland in 2018. The main aim of this project is to facilitate a dialogue with ordinary citizens, through a series of public consultations/workshops, about the main challenges the European Union in currently facing. This will result in a widely informed road which liberals in Poland (and the broader ALDE party) can follow towards determining their strategy for the European elections of 2019.
Around 45 participants from Scandinavia, Spain and Poland participated in this event.
First part of the event took place in the European Solidarity Center in Gdansk where participants saw the exhibition and discussed the topic of different ways of reaching the European unity- different for the East and the West of Europe. The discussion was moderated by Adam Szlapka, Head of the Parliamentary Group for the Future of the EU in the Polish Sejm.
The word of welcome before the workshop was given by Ewa Lieder, Pomeranian MP who focused on the European identity of Gdansk, connected with its turbulent history through the centuries.
Later, the introduction to the topic was given by Monika Rosa MP, who also participated in last workshop “Liberal Dialogue for Europe” in Ruda Slaska. Monika Rosa briefly explained her own Silesian identity as being deeply European. Silesia is a borderland area and borders that cross that territory have changed at least three times during the 20th century.