On 10 December 2014, Professor Richard BUTTERWICK-PAWLIKOWSKI, Chairholder of the EP Geremek Chair of European Civilization at the Natolin (Warsaw) campus of the College of Europe, contributed a paper to the conference "Citizen Matters: Views and Perspectives on European Citizenship", organized by Mr Fernando MAURA BARANDIARÁN, Vice-President of the ALDE group of MEPs, at the European Parliament in Brussels.
In his paper, titled "Europe’s wealth of civic traditions: the case of Polish-Lithuanian republicanism", Professor BUTTERWICK-PAWLIKOWSKI argued that Europeans cannot be expected to feel a sense of European citizenship, unless the content of "European citizenship" draws on the civic heritage of their own national or local communities, most of which remain poorly known elsewhere. As an example he highlighted the republican values of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which in the nineteenth century became a more universal idea of liberty.
The previous day Professor BUTTERWICK-PAWLIKOWSKI participated in another conference held at the European Parliament, jointly organized by the Bronisław Geremek Foundation, the Jerzy Giedroyc Polish-Lithuanian Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation, and the portal www.historians.in.ua, on "Ukraine as a Test of European Solidarity".
During the discussion Professor BUTTERWICK-PAWLIKOWSKI underlined the extent of "Western" ignorance about the heritages of all countries and peoples located between Russia and Germany, including Ukraine. On his return to Natolin he met with a group of interested students to discuss the themes raised in the conferences.