MEP Janusz Lewandowski met with UO students

The meeting took the form of a Q&A, with students asking questions and the MEP answering them. Janusz Lewandowski made an appearance at the Collegium Civitas auditorium on 6 December 2024

Although there were a lot of anecdotes about playing football, especially among the so-called ‘Gdańsk liberals’ from whom the MEP originates, there was also a lot of factual knowledge about Poland, the European Union and Europe and politics in the broadest sense. Janusz Lewandowski also gave some advice on how young people can help themselves if they want to enter the world of politics. He pointed above all to international programmes

‘Poles do well with the Erasmus programme. I also recommend Discover Europe, thanks to which you can travel around Europe by train for a whole month,’ said Janusz Lewandowski. ‘Study, learn and go, because in order to get into politics, language proficiency is important. English is the most popular language and French the most important. Many MEPs do not speak them and need assistants, so it is worth knowing these two languages and perhaps then such an assistantship will come into being.

The students and Mr Lewandowski also discussed Poland’s role in the international arena, the systemic transformation, European, national and regional identity, as well as economic policy towards and with Poland. They touched, for example, on the subject of Polish agriculture and the import of foreign grain into our country. They also talked about the Green Deal, coal and the energy transition, and electric cars.

Participants also asked about the EU budget and the perception of Poland in international structures. They also referred to the war in Ukraine, migration, EU and NATO military cooperation and disinformation, as well as the US presidential election.

‘The war has returned to Europe, which changes the perspective on how the EU functions. The EU was a peace project, but Putin leaves us no choice today,’ stressed Janusz Lewandowski. ‘We need to remodel economic potential into military potential, so that no one dares to cross our borders, and so that you do not have to experience what the Ukrainian youth have. It is not about attacking anyone, it is about deterrence. As for Trump, he is unpredictable, but one needs to make allowances for him.

Janusz Lewandowski also referred to the time when he supported the Solidarity movement and worked to rebuild private property and entrepreneurship in Poland. He also thanked the students for their attendance, joking that if he were in their shoes, he would probably want to get out of the meeting because he is not Robert Lewandowski, but a slightly older and less well-known Janusz Lewandowski.

Janusz Lewandowski is a Member of the European Parliament (2004-2010 and 2014-present) and former: member of the Polish parliament (1991-1993, 1997-2004), EU commissioner for budget and financial programming (2010-2014) and minister for property transformation (1991, 1992-1993). He was also an economic advisor to the Solidarity movement from 1980 to 1989 and a co-founder of the Liberal Democratic Congress in 1988, which he then led from 1990 to 1991. The economist and politician was born in 1951.

The meeting with Janusz Lewandowski was co-organised by: The University Centre for Knowledge and Technology Transfer, headed by Director Marek Liśkiewicz, and the Faculty of Political Science and Social Communication, headed by Dean Prof. Robert Geisler. It was one of many events hosted at the University of Opole where students can discuss politics with politicians.

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