Articles

As the Festival of Ideas approaches, the twelfth edition of the Lodz Forum promises to be an event like no other. Scheduled for October 24-26 at EXPO Lodz, this year’s theme, “Time of Uncertainty,” will take participants on a journey through the pressing challenges of our age.

With iron regularity, texts appear in the public sphere about powerful lobby groups influencing politics, or even dictating to governments what legislation to adopt and what policies to pursue domestically and internationally. First, we need to analyze the idea of a wealthy entrepreneur who, instead of developing their business in a \'market-oriented\' way, spends their time trying to convince politicians to secure advantages for their business from the state.

Advocates of state intervention and regulation believe that these mechanisms can improve the environment by suppressing the free market. Over time, they have become an increasing challenge for defenders of capitalism and the free market economy. The solution to global warming, air pollution, and so on is therefore said to be less market and more state planning.

What does Kosovo\'s path to the EU look like? What should we know about Kosovo\'s struggle for independence? What geopolitical tensions should we be aware of in the Western Balkans? And what is the situation of the Kosovar in Warsaw, Poland? Leszek Jazdzewski (Fundacja Liberte!) talks with Ambassador Drilon S. Gashi, the Chief of Mission of the Consulate General of the Republic of Kosovo in Warsaw.

Young men were forgotten by the campaign. Young men were forgotten by the politics. Young men were forgotten by Poland. That is why Nawrocki won the election. The recent elections confirmed what we had already known about Poland for many years. Poles are divided, torn almost exactly in half by striking polarization. The results of the first round immediately confirmed the greatest fears. This division of Poland is still going on.

Throughout President Trump’s two terms, he has made it a central focus to try and end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a piece of legislation that has given hundreds of thousands the ability to stay in America. In his most recent attempt to attack the program, he has declared that various universities are breaking Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits national origin discrimination, with DACA-only scholarships.

A new edition of the Nanny State Index has just been released — a ranking that measures how heavily European countries regulate their citizens’ lifestyles. Experts from the Civil Development Forum (FOR) are sounding the alarm: “Virtually all of the countries surveyed are increasingly turning to paternalistic solutions.”

In recent years, deregulation reforms have become a key step in many European countries toward simplifying rules and improving administrative efficiency. As a result, citizens and entrepreneurs have gained easier access to public services, and markets have become more business-friendly. But which specific reforms have delivered the best results — and how can other European nations benefit from their neighbors’ experiences?

Who are the challengers to the European mainstream? What are the issues that unite and divide the challengers of the European project? And what can we learn from the Italian case and Giorgia Meloni?Leszek Jazdzewski (Fundacja Liberte!) talks with Teresa Coratella, the Deputy Head of the Rome office at the European Council on Foreign Relations’ (ECFR) Rome office. 

It is now official – Bulgaria will become the 21st member of the euro area. This concludes a years-long process of preparing the country to join the monetary union. The first euro coins and notes will appear in Bulgarian wallets on January 1, 2026. In June 2025, EU finance ministers unanimously approved Bulgaria’s entry into the eurozone. The Bulgarian lev will be replaced by the euro at the beginning of 2026, with the exchange rate set at 1 euro = 1.95583 leva.