During the meeting, matters related to the civil society in Luxembourg were discussed. They discussed, among other things, common features and differences of Polish and Luxembourg society, cooperation of NGOs and social movements with public administration, membership of both countries in the European Union as well as security issues. An important part of the discussion were the challenges of the modern civil society.

Ambassador Paul Schmit, in his introduction to the discussion, introduced the meeting participants to the historical context of Luxembourg's statehood. As he said, today it is a multicultural, multilingual society (47% of the population are foreigners). He repeatedly referred to similar experiences between Poland and Luxembourg. As he acknowledged, both countries struggled with the occupation during World War II. For Luxembourgers, the desire to unite was very strong. For this reason, Luxembourg had the opportunity to become a founding member of the European Economic Community, which, in time, became the European Union.

Ambassador Schmit, speaking to Prof. Renata Mieńkowska-Norkiene, who led the meeting, stressed that Poland and Luxembourg are united by a strong commitment to European values. “I am proud that Poland and Luxembourg are linked by more than 100 years of diplomatic relations,” said H.E. Paul Schmit at the end of the meeting.

In the final part of the meeting, participants had the opportunity to ask several questions to the special guest. Ambassador Schmit answered them and shared his knowledge about Luxembourg's traditions and culture, as well as economic affairs (for example, Luxembourg is home to the European Investment Bank, but also 165 commercial banks).

The meeting was attended by representatives of business, diplomacy, NGOs and scientific organizations, as well as the members of the MISO community.

“Embassy of Civil Society” is MISO's cyclical meetings with diplomats devoted to the broadly understood civil society in countries represented by diplomats, inter alia, the definition and understanding of the notion of civil society, manifestations, problems and challenges of civil society, laws regulating civil society, financing of civil society, activities of NGOs and social movements.