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„You have to be courageous to think in a new way, as Poland shows that being valiant brings positive effects." - said President Bronisław Komorowski at the opening of the European Forum for New Ideas.

„You have to be courageous to think in a new way, as Poland shows that being valiant brings positive effects." - said President Bronisław Komorowski at the opening of the European Forum for New Ideas. He emphasized that the crisis may be a great opportunity to take up bold decisions. - In particular, the fact is that the brave attitude is no longer appreciated and people would rather not get involved. It is commonly believed that everything ought to be regulated this way so not to compete and the competitive attitude is, actually, so essential to the development of Europe - said President. Furthermore, Bronisław Komorowski stated that an efficient remedy to the current situation is a return to origins, i.e. focusing on the enlarging of the EU, tightening of the integration and increasing of the EU competitiveness. - However, it is not true that further enlargement of the EU will be troublesome - he ended up his exposé.

Lech Wałęsa posed three key questions for Europe: What economic system would suit these days? How should the democracy look like? What should the European solidarity be based upon? In the course of his speech, the former President was joking: „As a revolutionary, I would like to be the last revolutionary (...), since the era of confrontation terminates upon the collapse of communism."

„In such hard times Europe and the world have to face up, the opinion of business circles should be expressed. Therefore, we have organised EFNI and I do hope that, on Friday, we will present really solid proposals that we will pass to the EU management and Mr Prime Minister." - said Henryka Bochniarz, President of PKPP Lewiatan, Vice President of the European Business Confederation BUSINESSEUROPE at the Forum opening. The similar call was heard from Jürgen Thumann, who declared: „We experience a tremendous scepticism towards the EU enlargement and we will be meeting a historically important moment, which demands from us to search for new ideas of the Europe development."

The debates to be carried on throughout these three days of Forum, organised by the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan, will cover defined and new challenges, that have been revealed by the world financial crisis, rapid development of Asia and South America, failure of global initiatives related to climate protection and trade liberalization as well as expansion of new technologies. We will be asking questions, including: what about capitalism following the crisis, is the world at the crossroads, what are the new dimensions of competitiveness, is growth the only alternative to the world, does capitalism destroy democracy, what are the climatic and ecological challenges for Europe and Poland, where will the Internet lead us, what is the role of democracy in media and media in democracy, what are the energetic and ecological dilemmas of Europe, what are the roots of food anxiety.