Slovak screenwriter, journalist, translator and archaeologist. She graduated from drama studies, dramaturgy, Latin-American studies, archaeology and Egyptology in Bratislava, Moscow, Madrid, Vienna and Havana. She’s an author of the screenplay of „Changes of Bratislava”. She translated Spanish, French, English and German films and literary texts such as for instance: „Aprende a dibujar” by Rosa Curto, „Lettre à D.” by André Gorza and „Them, Adventures with Extremists” by Jona Ronsona. Her articles, feuilletons, interviews and essays were published in numerous Slovak magazines and journals. As an archaeologist she took part in excavations in Spain, Portugal and Egypt. She is currently involved in “Visegrad Literary Residences” programme, which operator is the Villa Decius Association.
Experts
Silvia Ruppeldtová
Bogusław Sonik
Since 2005 Member of the Lower house of the Parliament of Poland. From 2004 till 2014 Member of the European Parliament, chairman of Stowarzyszenie Maj77 and Villa Decius Association. Former director of the Polish Institute in Paris and minister plenipotentiary at the embassy of the Republic of Poland in France (1990–1996) and director of “Kraków 2000 – European City of Culture” Festival (1996–2002). Director of the Department of Promotion at the Krakow Municipal Office (2003–2004). Awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1993) and the Order of Merit for achievements in the field of Polish Culture (1999). In the European Parliament, he was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Subcommittee on Human Rights, the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, and responsible for negotiations on the REACH directive. His most significant success was the report concerning the influence of extraction of shale gas on environment which gave the “green light” to the extraction of shale gas in Europe.
Magdalena Sroka
Deputy Mayor of Krakow in charge of Culture and City Promotion. Master of Arts in Theatre Studies, manager of culture, producer of festivals, shows and TV programs. Director of the Krakow Festival Office (2008-2010). Co-initiator of legislative reforms regulating the cultural sector.
Janusz Styczek
Deputy Director, European Policy Department, Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Michał Sutowski
Polish political commentator, editor and translator; activist of Krytyka Polityczna since 2007 and coordinator of the Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw since 2012. He obtained his MA in political science at the College of Inter-Faculty Studies in the Humanities, at the University of Warsaw in 2009. He has translated numerous high-profile books, including some of Ulrich Beck’s, Michael Kazin's and Manuel Castells’, into Polish. He is the co-author of books: Żyj i pozwól żyć (an interview with Agata Bielik-Robson) and Związki przyjacielskie (an interview with Ludwika Wujec) and the editor of Pisma polityczne by Jacek Kuroń. As a commentator on political and social issues, as well as political economy he has written for some of Poland’s biggest newspapers, such as Gazeta Wyborcza, and Rzeczpospolita, with his main fields of interest being European integration, German politics, and the history of ideas, particularly in recent Polish and Central European history.
Maciej Szpunar
Undersecretary of State for legal and treaty affairs. Born in 1971 in Kraków. Graduated from the University of Silesia in Katowice, the Faculty of Law and Administration. In 1996 completed post-graduate studies at the Law Department of the College of Europe in Bruges, followed by Ph.D. studies at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Silesia University in Katowice. Bar traineeship completed in 2001 with an exam and listing at the Bar Register in Katowice. In 2009 obtained a habilitation in Legal Science (specialization: Law of the EU and private international law). From 1996 on, an associate lecturer and professor at the Chair of Civil Law and Private International Law of the Silesia University in Katowice. 2001-2004: an associate in a legal partnership. 2008-2009: an Undersecretary of State in the Office of the Committee for European Integration. Scolar in such institutions as e.g. the Centre of European Legal Studies at the University of Cambridge, the Institute of European Legal Studies “Fernand Dehousse” and the European University Institute in Florence. A Member of the Editorial Board of such periodicals as the “Problems of Private International Law”, the “European Judicial Review” and the “New Europe – Natolin Review”. Active in social associations and organisations: ex. a Member of the Board of “Polish Association for European Law” (FIDE). An author of many publications in the field of European law, civil law, international commercial law and international private law. Free time interests: history; free time activities: sailing, skiing and volleyball. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Maciej Szpunar is responsible for representing the Polish government before judicial bodies of the EU and the EFTA Court. Fluent in both English and French.
Karol Szyndzielorz
Graduated from the Warsaw University (Dep. Of Journalism, MA Specialization in International Relations). He began his career in 1957 at the Życie Warszawy daily as a reporter. During the Warsaw Block intervention to Czechoslovakia in 1968 he worked as a foreign correspondent, and later as an editor of the Science and Technology section. He did post graduate work in Socials Sciences and Political Sciences as a Ford Foundation grantee at Cornell University and Stanford University. During 1977 and 1978 he was the first Polish Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Since 1979 he has been the co-editor of the Global Paper One World published by the UN system. This publication and Życie Warszawy were both suspended under the material law in 1981. He then moved to the Polish Newsweek as foreign editor (1985-1991). In 1989, he was spokesman of the Round Table debates in Warsaw. Founder and editor-in-chief of the financial daily Nowa Europa (1991). In 1994, he became deputy CEO and member of the board of Zasada Group (Mercedes Polska). Founded and owned the company Media Group in 1996. Currently he is the advisor of the Executive Board of Siemens Polska.
György Varga
Deputy Executive Director of the International Visegrad fund. A translator (V. Havel, B. Hrabal, M. Kundera, I. Klíma and other authors) and literary historian dealing mainly with the Czech and Czechoslovakian literature. A close associate of the Czech opposition of the 1970s and 1980s. He became Budapest correspondent of the Czech Section of Radio Free Europe (1988–90). Following the change of the political regime he was appointed as Ambassador of Hungary in Prague (1990-95). Later he served as the head of the Central European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary (1998-2000) and Consul General in Slovakia(2000-04), the Chief Counsellor at the Department of Cultural and Science Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary (2004-05) and the Director of the Hungarian Cultural Centre in Prague (2005-10), He was awarded by the I. Level Medal of Merit by President Havel the Knight of Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic by President Göncz.
Magdaléna Vašáryová
A member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. Chairwoman of the oldest Slovak women’s association „Živena“ and chairwoman of the Institute for cultural policies. In the past she served as a State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Poland (2000 – 2005), between 1990 – 1993 Czechoslovak Ambassador to Austria. Founder and in years 1993 – 2000 the director of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association - SFPA (today honorary chair). Lectured at the Institute of International Relationships and Law Harmonization at the Faculty of Law of the Comenius University in Bratislava, and currently she is lecturer at the CEVRO Institute (Prague). In 2010 she was awarded with a Gold Medal for Meritorious for Culture – Gloria Artis. An author of several books and articles in domestic and international press.
Michal Vašečka
Doc. PhDr. Michal Vašečka, PhD (1972) is sociologist by background and focuses his interests on issues of ethnicity, race, antisemitism, and migration studies. As an Associate Professor he operates at the Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts (BISLA) since 2015 and he is a director of Bratislava Policy Institute. He operated at the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University in Brno in 2002-2017 and at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of the Comenius University in 2006-2009. As a visiting scholar he operated at the New School University in New York (1996-1997) and at the University of London (1998), in 2008-2009 he lectured at the Georgetown University in Washington, DC, in 2015 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in 2016 he was a scholar-in-residence in the ISGAP at Oxford University. Michal Vašečka is a founder of the Center for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture, he served a director of the CVEK (2006-2012). In 1998-2005 he operated at the Slovak think-tank Institute of Public Affairs as a program director on expert analysis of the Slovak transformation process with a focus on national minorities and the state of civil society in Slovakia. He has been a consultant for the World Bank in 2000-2008 and in 2011-2012. Since 2012 Michal Vašečka serves as a representative of the Slovak Republic in the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), human rights body of the Council of Europe. He is also as a vice-chairman of the governmental committee VRAX tackling extremism and racism in Slovakia. Michal Vašečka serves as a non-resident research associate at the European Centre for Minority Issues in Flensburg. In 2018 Michal became a laureate of the Award for special contribution in the field human rights of Minister of Justice of Slovakia.
