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Four debates, six topical roundtables. In the plenary session, Polityka Insight's moderators and experts discussed how to defend the West, rethink climate and energy policies in times of war, stitch together the European Union and survive stagflation. The speakers who participated in our debates included, among others, former President of the Republic of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, World Bank’s Country Director for European Affairs Gallina A. Vincelette, European Stability Initiative Chairman Gerald Knaus and President of the Polish Development Fund Paweł Borys. During round-table discussions, we talked about ways to end the war, how the war changes the energy transition, and how a period of destabilisation affects the banking sector. We discussed new forms of work organisation, looked at how to use data in medicine, and whether EU regulations will help ensure cyberspace security.
Experts were concerned about Ukraine's future. Behind the scenes at Risks and Trends, experts assessed that Ukraine's request to join NATO was premature and obscured the most important effort, which is the delivery of equipment. It will be impossible to obtain a NATO security guarantee for Ukraine similar to that obtained by Sweden and Finland. Ukraine's integration with the EU also has a bleak prospect. As a result, other ways of bringing Ukraine closer to the EU should be considered - for example, by allowing Kyiv to access structural funds but not the EU's policy tools. The longer it takes for the West to impose sanctions, the sooner Russia will regain its resilience to harass both Ukraine and Europe. Experts are also convinced that winter will bring a humanitarian crisis larger than the one we witnessed at the beginning of the war, for which the EU does not seem to be prepared.
Business calls for an accelerated energy transition. During the discussion on the impact of the war on energy transition, business representatives pointed to the difficulties associated with the need to simultaneously deal with the rapidly rising prices of fuels and the need to invest in the energy transition they view as necessary. According to the speakers, a two-speed transition is underway in Poland. While businesses are trying to abandon fossil fuels, the government is pursuing the opposite policy, increasing the share of coal in energy production. Experts pointed out that an auction system should be created to encourage the industry to reduce energy consumption. The participants in the debate also talked about the need to strengthen efforts to combat smog, because, in the face of the drastic increase in the prices of energy carriers, there is a risk of a radical deterioration of air quality as a result of the burning of harmful materials in furnaces. Among the key activities that may accelerate the transition, the speakers pointed to education, effective communication, and planning long-term changes.
Uncertainty makes it difficult to finance the economy and rebuild Ukraine. During the roundtable, bank management representatives spoke about the economic, market, and regulatory uncertainty they are facing. As a result of provisions for Swiss franc settlements and the cost of credit holidays, the profitability of the sector's equity capital (2.9 per cent at the end of August 2022) is much lower than the cost of this capital (several per cent), which puts into question the profitability of running a banking business in Poland. Faced with such challenges, banks are focused on their own needs rather than on providing funding to companies that struggle with high inflation and need to access cheap operating capital. The heads of Polish companies agreed that when the winter is over, Polish companies might emerge as not very profitable, and some may even go bankrupt. As a result, they will definitely lose their chance to participate in the rebuilding of Ukraine.
The administration calls for a more long-term perspective. The administration pointed out that for years the sector only focused on short-term profits, selling products that were not beneficial to customers, for instance, Swiss franc loans or insurance deposits. For this reason, it should come as no surprise that the government has chosen to burden the banks. Governments formed by other parties would likely have taken a similar step. The administration representatives called on the sector to focus on a more long-term perspective and adopt, for instance, fixed-rate loans, which in the event of sudden changes in the monetary policy do not burden borrowers and make it possible to create safer loan portfolios, more resistant to market fluctuations. The banks replied that most of the mistakes of the past, such as Swiss franc loans, were not the result of their craving for short-term profits; they were dictated by the science of building - at various stages - the banking sector in Poland. 
Joanna Sawicka, Piotr Sobolewski, and Piotr Łukasiewicz contributed to this report.
Risks & Trends 2022 partners include Amazon, Deloitte, Grupa Żywiec, IKEA, Janssen, KGHM, Żabka Group, European Council on Foreign Relations and Clean Air Fund.
