Report from the conference "Divergence or the community of interests? Relations between Poland and Germany in the European Union"

On June 13, 2018, a scientific conference entitled "Divergence or the community of interests? Relations between Poland and Germany in the European Union" was held in the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University.  Its aim was to present, analyze and discuss the results of the POLGER research project. During the conference speakers and participants focused focus on three research questions. First of all, what is the state of Polish-German cooperation in the EU, in particular in the European Parliament and the Council? Secondly, is Polish-German cooperation, understood as agreeing positions and building coalition, profitable for both countries, i.e. does it bring more success in the EU legislative process? Thirdly, what actions should be taken to improve cooperation between Poland and Germany in the EU, in particular what are the barriers, how to overcome them and whether it is worth doing?

Two panels took place during the conference. In the first one the members of the research team presented the results of research undertaken as part of the POLGER project. The panel moderator was the project manager of the Jean Monnet Chair EUCRIS, prof. dr hab. Janusz Węc (Jagiellonian University):

• Adam Kirpsza, Ph.D. (Jagiellonian University), Presentation of quantitative research results,
• Kamila Schoell-Mazurek, Ph.D. (European University Viadrina in Frankfurt -Oder), Presentation of the results of qualitative research.

The speakers in the second panel discussed the presented results of the project and tried to answer the question: what is wrong in the relations between Poland and Germany in the EU and how to fix them? The panel was moderated by Agnieszka Nitszke, Ph.D. (Jagiellonian University), a member of the JMC EUCRIS team, and there were three outstanding experts on Polish-German relations:

• prof. dr hab. Jan Rydel (Pedagogical University of Cracow)
• prof. dr hab. Jan Wiktor Tkaczyński (Jagiellonian University)
• the aforementioned prof. dr hab. Janusz Węc.

The conference was organized as part of a grant from the Polish-German Foundation for Science awarded to the POLGER research project ("Divergence or community of interests? Polish-German relations in institutions and the legislative process of the European Union / Ziehen an einem Strang - gemeinsame oder jedes Land an einem Ende?" Deutsch-polnische Verhältnisse in den Institutionen und im Gesetzgebungsprozess der Europäischen Union "). is implemented by a consortium of the Jagiellonian University (leader) and the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). The project manager is Adam Kirpsza, Ph.D. The research was carried out in the years 2016-2018. More information about the POLGER project can be found here.

The video realtions form the conference can be viewed on the Fabook profile of the Institute of Political Sciences and International Relations of the Jagiellonian University and below.

Panel I. Presentation of the project's results

Panel II. Relations between Poland and Germany in the EU - what is wrong and how to fix it?