Polarisation is tearing democracies apart, and few European countries illustrate this more starkly than Poland. In the book Let’s Agree on Poland (Oxford University Press, 2025), a group of leading Polish thinkers, from the left to the hard right, argues that as political preferences increasingly follow geographical patterns, the only viable response is decentralisation – stabilising democracy by distributing power and lowering the stakes of national conflict.

For Austrians, who often see their own federal system as cumbersome or inefficient, this may sound counterintuitive. Can decentralisation really reduce conflict, or does it simply multiply veto players and deepen gridlock?

By bringing Polish reform ideas into dialogue with Austria’s federal experience, the discussion explores whether decentralisation can help safeguard democracy, and what Poland and Austria might learn from one another.

With

Sepp Schellhorn – State Secretary for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria

Martin Eichtinger – Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna; former Austrian diplomat and regional minister

Maciej Kisilowski -Associate Professor of Law and Strategy at Central European University (Vienna); co-editor of Let’s Agree on Poland

Anna Wojciuk – Associate Professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics at the University of Warsaw; co-editor of Let’s Agree on Poland

The event will take the form of a panel discussion, followed by an audience Q&A, conducted in English.

Venue

ERSTE Foundation, Am Belvedere 1, 1100 Vienna

Registration

Participation is limited and advance registration is required. Please register via the following link

Event registration

Header image: ERSTE Foundation exterior view, © Gregor Titze, 2025