The Centre for International Relations received a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop a publication and organize a special debate entitled "The Future of Europe: A (No) Discrepancy Report". It took place on October 2nd during the European Forum for New Ideas in Sopot. The aim of the project was to define the interests that lead to the divisions on our continent and develop conclusions and recommendations how to deal with the disintegrating trends and strengthen the process of consolidation of Europe. CIR's partner was the Lewiatan Confederation and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

According to sociologists, although many years have passed, men in the military still perceive the profession of a soldier as "the last bastion of masculinity". Experts mention many practical positives, which are connected to the admission of women to serve in army. Currently, the German army has approx. 18.5 thousand women - writes Anna Przybyll in the latest issue of the German Bulletin.

The social consultations hosted by the Delegation of the European Commission and the Ministry of Economy regarding the "Europe 2020" document are to last till October 31st. Tomasz Gibas of the EC Delegation, Horacy Dębowski from the Institute for Educational Research and Julian Zawistowski of the Institute of Modeling and Analysis of Public Policies, among others, discussed the possible changes in the Polish approach to the objectives of the strategy "Europe 2020". The panel was led by CIR's President, dr Małgorzata Bonikowska.

"For Poland, structural funds were a sort of "Marshall Plan" and helped make up for the many years of backlog. At the same time, Poland has used them to strengthen fundamental transformation processes, which have been taking place in our country for the last quarter of a century" - said CIR's President, dr Małgorzata Bonikowska, during the conference Beyond "Absorption": the Impact of EU Structural Funds on Greece (1981-2013).

British politicians face the challenge of determining the vision for the future of the United Kingdom and the reasons why, in the next century, it will be worth staying together - says Dr Małgorzata Bonikowska, President of the Centre for International Relations, in a special analysis on "the Scottish case". If the Scots remain in the UK, this should not lead London to triumphalism, because the situation will remain tense. The EU should also draw some conclusions. If it won't give all its members a sense of self-fulfillment in the wider community and in the name of great ideas, the same tensions await it, as those that the British union is faced with today. The Scottish referendum demonstrates an important truth about the situation of Great Britain: roughly half of the Scottish society further questions the point of being in a union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

The African continent is a place of great opportunities, but also challenges. To succeed and increase its presence in sub-Saharan Africa, Poland must have a clear strategy and act coherently, activating and connecting different environments - CIR's President, dr Małgorzata Bonikowska said during the panel "Africa in the European Union policy. Opportunities and challenges for Poland", organized within the first nationwide European congress. The discussion was also attended by: dr Kamil Zajączkowski - University of Warsaw – panel moderator, dr Andrzej Łupina - Polish Ambassador, prof. dr hab. Arkadiusz Żukowski – University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, dr hab. Wiesław Lizak - Uniwersytet Warszawski, mgr Anna Masłoń-Oracz – President of Maroney Group, mgr Paulina Pietrowiak – University of Warsaw, and mgr Omenaa Mensah – Warsaw School of Economics.

The conflict in Ukraine has forced Poland to an in-depth analysis of priorities in its policy towards the East - comments dr Małgorzata Bonikowska, president of CIR and Michał Szczygielski, analyst at CIR. Initiated by Warsaw in 2009, the Eastern Partnership is currently experiencing a crisis as a result of Moscow's decisive actions, where it seeks to maintain its influence in the area. Poland's answer should be a correction to the Partnership's assumptions and an East-West mediation proposal, in the long term leading to improve the state of our relations with Russia. The priorities of the Polish Eastern policy in the context of the developments in Ukraine seem to be clear - among them are the desire to increase the presence of NATO in Central Europe and the Baltic countries.