The European Commission decided to launch “Article 7” against Poland on 20th December, which could end up potentially with blockade of our possibilities in making decisions about EU matters. The launch of the “Article 7” is not only real blow for Poland but also a sign of internal, institutional crisis of the entire Community which can meet with opposition from some countries of the European Union. Polish politicians officially declared their willingness to establish a dialog. None of the sides is interested in dragging and inflaming the current conflict - wrote Wicke van den Broek, an associate of the Center for International Relations in the commentary "Article 7 or catch 22".

Economic sovereignty doesn’t exist and this is not a result of globalization. The extent of connections between the states is so deep, that sovereign decision is so expensive even for major powers - said Eugeniusz Smolar, expert and member of the Council of the CIR foundation, in the introduction to the debate: “The sovereignty of Poland and its borders” organized by The Batory Foundation. Other panelists at the meeting were: Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz (The Batory Foundation), Lidia Raś (gazetaprawna.pl) and Piotr Trudnowski (Jagiellonian Club). They discussed during debate on what means sovereignty today and how accession to the European Union changed the character of Polish sovereignty.

Bohuslav Sobotka (former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic) said during China Investment Forum 2015 in Prague, that relations between Beijing and Prague are the best in the whole history of both countries. Andrzej Duda (President of Poland) noted something very similar in 2016, what publicly emphasized during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Poland - wrote experts of the CIR and the Czech Prague Security Studies Institute in the special report: “Comparing the Czech-Polish approach to China: Assessing both Challenges and Opportunities from a security-minded perspective”. This publication was made as a part of the project which is realized both by the CIR and Prague Security Studies Institute. Its main aim was: to compare the Polish and Czech approach to China, to connect academic communities and to create an informal cooperation network between Polish and Czech representatives active in China.

The students of CUHK Business School from Hong Kong came to Poland on 3-5 January at the invitation of the Faculty of Management at Technical University in Warsaw. The main aim of their visit was to increase knowledge of students about Central Europe countries which are actively involved in the New Silk Road initiative. Program of the visit was co-created by the CIR. The Center for International Relations organized also a briefing about the current situation in the European Union and Poland. There was some meeting with the entrepreneurs too. Małgorzata Bonikowska Ph.D. (President of the CIR) also met with the students.