Club Lecture And Dinner With Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz
October 20th, 2015, Tuesday
The Reform Union Club organised for its members and partners a Club lecture by Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz, which was held in the traditional format of the association on 20 October 2015 in the Triaditsa 1 Hall of Grand Hotel Sofia. The distinguished guest was in Sofia at the special invitation of the Club to read a public lecture at the Sofia Business School focusing on the crises and the economic growth in Europe. Prof. Balcerowicz is one of the leading economists in Europe, a former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland, long-time manager of the National Bank of Poland and creator of the “shock therapy” plan of the early 1990s. The guest presented to those attending the dinner his views on the causes behind the turbulent events in the global economy and in particular the EU. He explained the cycles of growth and collapse and linked them to the systemic forces at work which determine a given economic growth or crisis. He spoke about the growth mechanisms which can be either situation-specific – and therefore short-lived, or based on innovation – which would guarantee their potentially long-term effect. Prof. Balcerowicz underlined the different factors which lead to economic stagnation and collapse as well as the logic which should be used to overcome them depending on the type of the country’s social and economic system. Another important point was the shocks in the Eurozone and the Greek crisis. The professor offered his interpretation of the combination of causes which have led to the economic and financial crisis of 2008, sharing at the same time his views for a future working model for the Eurozone.
Among the participants in the discussion that followed were leading Bulgarian bankers, representatives of the government administration and entrepreneurs who had been invited to join the event by the members of the Club.