The University

EVENTS
The ambassador cited the planned construction
of two nuclear power plants as representative
of the benefits of closer cooperation, noting
that Polish specialists attached to the project will
be trained in France. He also emphasized the importance
of joint work in developing instruments
regulating markets in agricultural products. He
said that this is particularly important in light
of especially the alarming and unprecedented
fluctuations of food product prices in Europe in
the last two years. “We cannot allow agriculture
to disappear,” Martin-Delongchamps said, “because
it is not only a way of earning a living for
many people, but also a part of the cultural identity.”
He added that determined action should be
taken to ensure food security for Europe and advocated
pragmatism in cooperating with other
countries outside the continent.
Francois Barry
Delongchamps, the French
ambassador in Poland
talking to Prof. Waldemar
Tarczyński, rector of
Szczecin University
Photo: Jerzy Giedrys
10
Highlighting that the presence of French
culture in West Pomerania is more dependent
upon the entrepreneurs’ and sponsors’ interest
and initiative than upon the will of the embassy
and the French government, the ambassador
noted an intensification of cooperation in the
area of mutual cultural recognition in the form
of joint celebrations in 2010 of the Maria Curie-
Skłodowska’s 1911 Nobel Prize and the 200th anniversary
of Frederic Chopin’s birth.
Martin-Delongchamps was accompanied
by a delegation that included Councilor Jérôme
Baconin of the French Economic Mission in Warsaw,
Educational Cooperation Attaché Mireille
Cheval and Press Attaché Patrycja Stankiewicz.
Włodzimierz Puzyna, France’s honorary consul in
Szczecin, also was in attendance. Members of the
delegation joined with University Rector Waldemar
Tarczyński in a panel discussion following
the address and focused on the future European
integration. Baconin stressed the importance of
balancing deeper cooperation and community
enlargement with efforts to safeguard the differences
and characters of individual member states
in order to prevent the rise of reactionary nationalism.
Mutual respect built upon understanding
and the exchange of values is a key issue, but culture
and peace require a large amount of effort,
he said, citing the reconciliation between France
and Germany as an example of a difficult process
that produced a satisfactory partnership thanks
to commitment on both sides and programmatic
exchanges aimed at deepening relations between
the two nations. “Two generations after
the Second World War, the thought of a conflict
seems absurd because it was possible to develop
mutual respect,” he said.
The Ambassador expressed his belief that
such initiatives, expressing political intentions
on one hand and openness and involvement of
young people on the other, may be applied in
every country and are a vital element in forging
Europe’s common future. It was a message not
lost on the gathering, which consisted of students,
graduates and academic staff of the University.
Tarczyński echoed these sentiments in
raising a toast to continued and unceasing Polish-
French friendship at the close of the event.