On June 14-15, in the city of Lutsk, as part of the Year of Poland in Ukraine, a round table was held on the topic: "Poland in the European Union". Its organizers were the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Lutsk and the Center of Public Youth Organizations of Volyn "Our Cause". The participants of the meeting, and the round table was attended by well-known journalists, public figures, entrepreneurs, and clergy in Volyn, were offered three sessions: - "Civil Society and Democratic Principles in the Process of Poland's Integration into the European Union"; - "Preservation of National Identity in European Unification and Diversity"; - "Competitiveness of the Polish Economy under the Conditions of the European Free Market". As noted in his introductory remarks by the Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Lutsk, Wojciech Gałązka, "Poland is now going through a stage that is significant for its entire subsequent history, and what it will be like now, what conclusions each of us will draw, and what tasks will be set next, will to a significant extent determine the future of both Poland and Eastern Europe as a whole." He also dwelt on the results of the elections to the European Parliament in Poland, in particular, noting the low turnout of citizens at polling stations — only 20%. This figure, as well as the fact that second place went to the League of Polish Families, which generally opposed Poland's accession to the EU, caused considerable surprise among those present. The expert of the session "Civil Society and Democratic Principles in the Process of Poland's Integration into the European Union", Chairman of the Board of the "Education for Democracy" Foundation (Warsaw), Krzysztof Stanowski, did not avoid this topic in his report either. He dwelt, in particular, on the role played by public organizations in the establishment of Poland as a democratic state, and through this, undoubtedly, also in the process of his country's accession to the EU. "In the European Union, the 'principle of assistance' prevails — what a gmina can do should not be done by a voivodeship, what a voivodeship can do should not be done by the state. The same applies to public organizations; now the authorities are beginning to understand that it is often cheaper and easier to help NGOs in solving one or another social problem than to solve them on their own. But this understanding required considerable effort and time." Currently, over 40 thousand public organizations are officially registered in Poland (of which 94% emerged after 1989), whose members include more than a million volunteers. It was hard for the round table participants to believe that only 6% of the funds at the disposal of public organizations are revenues from abroad. The second of the proposed topics — "Preservation of National Identity in European Unification and Diversity" — sparked a lively discussion. The expert — Wojciech Borodzicz-Smoliński (Polish Robert Schuman Foundation, Warsaw) — offered his vision of the opportunities that the European Union guarantees to every people, every nation. In this matter, the fact that the working languages of the EU are 20 (!) languages, that is, all the state languages of the member countries, is indicative. At the same time, it was only thanks to an EU program that the restoration of the Irish language (the language of the Gaels) became possible. The Ukrainian participants were less categorical. Thus, the opinion was voiced that only ancient, long-formed nations have a chance not to lose their national self-awareness, while weaker ones risk being eroded under the general conditions of the absence of borders and cultural "mixing". But everyone unequivocally agreed that what the cultural and national future of the Polish people will be like will to a significant extent depend on the position of the church. The third session was no less interesting — expert Krzysztof Szczygielski (CASE Center for Social and Economic Analyses, Warsaw). Representatives of small and medium-sized businesses were especially active; they were interested in comparing the rumors and fears that existed in Polish society before accession to the EU with the real legislative framework and market conditions, learning about new opportunities and Euro standards, and finding out what had already been done and what was planned to be done in order to adapt Polish legislation to European legislation. The round table participants and passers-by received fresh Polish press and literature on various aspects of public life in Poland and the European Union.