Minister for Civil Society Agnieszka Buczyńska visited her Alma Mater. On January 15, the member of the Council of Ministers met with the Rector UG prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski, and then gave a lecture to students and academic staff.

During the conversation with the Minister, prof. Piotr Stepnowski offered to cooperate in any activities where issues of social initiatives and science intersect. This includes expert opinions or research on social phenomena. The Rector also talked about the activities of our university, including the SEA-EU alliance and the R/V Oceanograf ship.

After a brief meeting, Minister Agnieszka Buczyńska moved to the Faculty of Social Sciences building, where she delivered a lecture entitled 'Civil society - from participation to lawmaking'.

'I believe that the appointment of a Minister for Civil Society under this government was an expression of the fact that there is no strong democracy without a strong civil society,' Agnieszka Buczyńska said during her lecture. 'On the one hand, I deal with all entities that can be categorised as non-governmental organisations. However, as we know, civil society is not only NGOs. Activists who organise grassroots civic initiatives do not always feel like associating. They prefer grassroots, informal initiatives. This is the other side of my activity as a Minister.'

The University of Gdańsk guest emphasised that her position is particularly justified in this term of the Sejm, whose social mandate is the strongest in the history of the Third Republic of Poland. She also introduced the lecture participants to the functioning and structure of the Chancellery of the Council of Ministers.

Questions from the audience included those about ministers without portfolio, raising funds for grassroots social initiatives and abortion law in Poland.

The Minister for Civil Society visited the University of Gdańsk at the invitation of the Director of the Institute of Political Science UG, dr hab. Arkadiusz Modrzejewski, prof. UG.