Role of EU and NATO in providing peace and security in Europe - AYD international conference, 12-14 January 2018

During the 2nd session in Cracow, 12 – 14 January 2018, participants of the Academy od Young Diplomats had an opportunity to discuss the most important issues of NATO and European Union security cooperation… On Friday evening, the participants had a lecture about „The EU and NATO as pillars of prosperity and security of the West – success and challenges” with Dr Katarzyna Pisarska, Director of the European Diplomacy Workshop and Robert Pszczel, Senior Officer at Public Diplomacy Division in NATO.

On Saturday, January 13th, AYD participants, V4 in Europe participants and Jagiellonian University students took part in the international conference “Role of EU and NATO in providing peace and security in Europe”, organized by the Academy of Young Diplomats and the Visegrad School of Political Studies and Jagiellonian University who hosted the event at their Faculty of Law and Administration. The conference gathered almost 200 participants, who discussed the future of the European Union and NATO, the new security arrangements and challenges and the scenarios for the future cooperation between EU and NATO.

First panel focused on the future of Europe, with Dr. Jan Olbrycht, Mr. Christian Davies, Dr. Katarzyna Pisarska as speakers and Ms. Joanna Jasińska as moderator. The discussion was focused on the results of Brexit and democratic participation in the reforming and redefining of the EU. Second panel mainly centered around „NATO in a New European Security Environment” and was presented by Robert Pszczel, Dr. Tomasz Pugacewicz, Mr. Gergely Kovacs, moderated by Mr. Zbigniew Pisarski. After lunch participants took part in a panel co-organized with Community of Democracies, which focused on „Democracy vs. Security: A False Dilemma” by Mr. Thomas E. Garrett, Ms. Zuzana Papazoski, Mr. Tomas Dvorak and moderated by Dr. Katarzyna Pisarska. Participants could take part in the discussion and share their thoughts on how democracy and security can infiltrate and what actions should be taken in the future..

The last day of the AYD session was focused on Introduction to Leadership Circles presented by Dr. Katarzyna Pisarska. It is a new model introduced this year to AYD structure. During next sessions of AYD, participants are going to learn more about leadership, and will explore how to become a better leader.

*The conference and the second AYD session were organized in partnership with the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University, PZU Foundation, International Visegrad Fund, NATO, Council of Europe, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Polen, Community of Democracies.