Ladies and Gentlemen! "Carpathian Europe" has functioned for two decades as a permanent series of conferences during which the most important problems concerning Poland, Central Europe, Europe and the world are discussed. What is the phenomenon of "Carpathian Europe" and the fact that it has managed to bring together people and personalities from so many different countries, representing so many different fields of education and professional activity - as the names of the panelists of successive editions of this conference keep convincing us?
For reasons that are completely unrelated, but noticed by the initiators and organizers of the conference, the inhabitants of Central Europe, squeezed - often very brutally - by the great empires from the East and the West, developed specific qualities in response to the violence and sophisticated intrigues of the aggressor: a kind of genius. A wisdom that can be felt on the so-called popular level as well as among the national intellectual elites. In the political centers of the European Union, it is with incredulity and even growing impatience that the attitude - characteristic not only of the Poles - that we do not want to blindly imitate and copy. The countries and nations of Carpathian Europe approach life without much illusion, and even with a certain degree of skepticism. We have an above-average ability to turn failures into a joke. We still strongly remember what life is like when the authorities promise to build a paradise on earth. When the promise of prosperity for everyone becomes hell for everyone. This is not just a memory of the Communist era. For Carpathian Europe is a space of small human history. Time has never stopped here. Questions about one's roots, sources, and identity have always been alive. Just like the respect for one's own work and, at the same time, openness to the ideas and inventions of others. The model of a good farmer, "golden hands", a man of honour, chivalrous virtues, faith that there is, as there is faith, so there is God - do not so much remain a distinctive feature of this region of the world, but rather a space of condensed human history. And its future.
Whether you read about the Carpathian Europe, the Tri-Cities, the New Europe or the Visegrad Group, all analyses confirm that in the last two decades our part of Europe has been one of the fastest economically growing areas of the world. Instead of sinking into ethnic conflicts, as was once predicted by proponents of the thesis that communism is a "conflict freezer", Central European nations are cooperating more and more effectively. Who knows, if the Carpathian Europe, unfortunately plunged into successive severe crises in the European Union, will not soon play the role of Piedmont? A center of spiritual and rational forces and values, on which it will be possible to build European order, peace and cooperation for generations to come. Carpathian Europe", organized within the framework of the jubilee XXX Economic Forum in Karpacz, consisted of 16 panel discussions and countless meetings and discussions, during which the diagnoses were made and the recipes for solving usually difficult problems were drawn. Knowledge capital and interpersonal contacts were built. This publication, which we are handing over to you, is an important, although obviously only a trace of the discussions and work done. Nothing can replace personal participation in the conference 'Europe of the Carpathians', which was also proved by the very high audience turnout during the XXXth edition in Karpacz. The report on the XXX Conference is preceded by three texts dealing with key issues that we will probably be dealing with for many years to come: the future of civilization, the importance of communication and ecology and the wealth of a healthy natural environment that the people of Central Europe have enjoyed for centuries. So I invite you today to personally and actively participate in the next conferences of "Carpathian Europe". See you there!
Marek Kuchciński, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
