Fourth edition of the European Resource Bank Meeting took place in Bucharest, the capital of Romania from 13 till 16 September. It is the largest European meeting of free market and conservative-liberal groups. Over 250 representatives of leading European think tanks took part in that event, organized by CADI- Eleutheria, Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute. Five of them were members of the Project Lodz. Our Foundation has become an official partner and sponsor of the ERBM, among such prestigious organizations as the European Enterprise Institute or the Atlas Foundation. The PL’s participation was emphasised by speeches, given by Marcin Nowacki and Ph. D. Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski. 

 Discussion  concerning tax systems in Europe.

Describing the meeting it is essential to mention an incident very kind from the Polish point of view. While the welcoming cocktail in the Hilton Hotel, Tom Palmer, the vice-president of the Cato Institute, who was delivering an official speech, with fluent Polish proposed a toast “for ours and yours freedom”, relating to the traditions of independent Poland.

Presentation of the Project Lodz Foundation during the workshop for creating local coalitions.

Current European Resorce Bank Meeting, similarly to previous ones, gathered top representatives of multiple European and American think-tanks free market institutions, as well as political journalists, economists and academic researchers. Some individuals among them were: already mentioned Tom Palmer (vice-president of the Cato Institute), Pierre Garello (Institute For Economic Studies director), Theodora Stolojan (former prime-minister of Romania), Jo Kwong (director of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation). The special guest was Jose Pinera, the president of the International Center for Pension Reform, who created the new pension system in Chile, based on partly privatized institutions, implemented later on by majority of Central-European countries.

The participants had opportunity to take part in numerous sessions devoted to the free market problematic, globalisation, taxation system, European Constitution and social models in various states. Moreover, several workshops have been held, during which it was possible to deepen one’s knowledge on chosen topics and discuss them in smaller groups.

The next ERBM is impatiently awaited by our organization, in which it shall take again a major share.