About geopolitics and the Three Seas Initiative at the KUL conference

As the expert, Dr. Habil. Agnieszka Orzelska-Stączek noted in the plenary lecture "The Three Seas Region as a concept of security and development," there are two contradictory narratives about the Three Seas Initiative in the public space - one of them indicates that it is a competitive project facing the European Union while the other indicates that it is an intra-EU forum that is supposed to strengthen the EU.

The lecture of the expert from the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), as well as the discussion after it, in which scientists from KUL and and War Studies University, among others, participated, were one of the events of the KUL conference connected with the inauguration of the Three Seas University Network (3SUN - The Three Seas University Network) - an initiative of KUL which is to build the foundations of a lasting and stable partnership of universities from the 12 countries of the Three Seas Initiative.

The vice-rector for students, doctoral students and development, Dr. habil. Beata Piskorska, prof. KUL, opened the second day of the KUL international scientific conference entitled "The Three Seas Universities Network in the Face of Contemporary Challenges of Science and the Region." Delivering her paper, she emphasized that "it is worth looking at the geopolitical importance of the Three Seas region, and doing so from the perspective of the challenges related to the education of the intellectual base of the administrations of the countries that participate in this project.” She also added that "this topic fits perfectly into the issues raised during the Three Seas Local Government Congress in Lublin and in the behind-the-scenes conversations.”

The Three Seas Initiative, i.e. North-South cooperation in the eastern part of the EU focuses on infrastructural and economic development, but due to changes in the international environment, including Russia's aggression against Ukraine, it is increasingly associated with security issues, although mainly in the area of energy and new technologies. This reminder came from Dr. habil. Agnieszka Orzelska-Stączek, who works at the Department of Central and Eastern Europe and Post-Soviet Studies of the Institute of Political Studies of PAN.

The political scientist drew attention to what she also considered as important - "the security of the information space, as well as the role of science in building the narrative and message about the Three Seas Initiative which reaches the public space.” She further explained that in cooperation under the Three Seas Initiative, it is crucial to build trust between countries, among other things, through better mutual understanding and clear communication of intentions, because there are conflicting narratives about this cooperation, which in turn can be a source of problems.

In the opinion of the expert, "scientific research and study visits show that some distrust is caused by combining the Three Seas Initiative with the concept of Isthmus (Intermarium) and treating these two concepts as the same." She also pointed out the concerns about the fact that the Three Seas Initiative is an international organization. Meanwhile, as she emphasized, this undertaking has a character of an informal form of cooperation.

Among the most important contradictions, Dr. habil. Orzelska-Stączek also listed narratives regarding the Three Seas Initiative in relation to the European Union. "These are two mutually exclusive narratives: on the one hand, an intra-EU forum which is to strengthen the EU and this goal is unquestionable, and on the other hand, there are also publications and, in some circles, a narrative is being built that the Three Seas Initiative is an alternative to the EU." In the light of the declarations of the Initiative countries and the research on this subject, she pointed out the Initiative aims at strengthening the EU, and that is what it actually does. She also added that the foundation of the Three Seas Initiative is the experience from the past, when the countries belonging to it were in the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union and - as President Andrzej Duda noted at the Congress - were "on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain".

As she concluded, "we are witnesses of the competition about building the image of this form of cooperation which takes place on the level of narrative, words." She noted that it is very important in communication between countries, especially between larger countries and smaller ones, to maintain the precision and consistency of the message, as well as the presentation of intentions and consideration of the asymmetry of potentials of individual countries.

After the plenary lecture on "Geopolitical significance of the Three Seas Initiative," experts from KUL, War Studies University, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University and the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv discussed, among other things, about the mutual relations of the Three Seas Initiative towards Western Europe (partnership and equal treatment are key here), geoeconomics and financial contribution to this project (Poland contributed incomparably more funds to it than other countries), differences of interests in the context of the geopolitical game of the whole world (including US support for the Three Seas Initiative in the face of Germany's dominance in the EU and the growing power of China). The researchers also agreed with the thesis that the establishment of the Three Seas Universities Network can significantly help in communication among the Three Seas Initiative countries. Collaboration of this kind acquires - according to them - an institutional character, and is not exclusively related to individual undertakings of scientists.

The Three Seas Universities Network, to which KUL, as its initiator and leader, invited universities, among others, from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary (including Ukraine), is to be a tool for establishing and maintaining regular contacts as well as undertaking joint research and implementing innovations in the area of quality of education. Integration of the academic community of 12 countries of the Three Seas Initiative is to take place, among other things, through cooperation in the commercialization of knowledge and the exchange of teaching and research experience.