On the 66th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, regarded as the beginnings of European integration, the University of Gdańsk celebrates Europe Day. According to a long tradition, the Research Centre on European Integration, along with the University of Gdańsk’s Faculty of Economics, organised the celebration of Europe Day on 16 May 2016. The event’s patron was Jarosław Wałęsa MEP, and the special guest was Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of the Republic of Poland between 1995-2005. The theme was “Europe in the Face of Current Challenges”.

As part of this year’s celebration of Europe Day, the 13th edition of the competition ‘Poland in the Union’, a scientific conference and the Europe Day Gala were organised. During the conference an attempt was made to demonstrate past and present threats to the security of Europe, the European Union and particular states, including Poland, in various dimensions. The conference saw a fluid exchange of opinions and views and the presentation of research results on the subject of current issues in the European Union, most especially phenomena and processes with an impact on the security of Europe, from both the social and defence perspectives.

After the conference a gala celebration was held, during which the results were announced and prizes awarded for the competition ‘Poland in the Union”. The competition was aimed at secondary-school students of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and students of the UG’s Faculty of Economics. One hundred and ten pupils from fifty-one schools took part. The best thirteen went through to the finals. All those who made it to the second round were awarded diplomas and small gifts. The finalists, at the invitation of Jarosław Wałęsa, will be travelling to the European Parliament and they received prizes funded by Ziaja and Young Digital Planet.