Leadership in Times of Pressure: Lessons from Warsaw
What Europe Can Learn from Poland's Strategic Role

Decision-makers, practitioners and policy experts came together to discuss what effective democratic leadership requires in times of uncertainty, with a focus on three areas: security, migration and social cohesion, and innovation.

A recurring theme throughout the two-day workshop was that effective leadership today depends not only on strategic decision-making, but also on resilience, adaptability and a clear set of values. Participants highlighted the importance of operating under uncertainty, reconsidering established assumptions and building trust between institutions and citizens.

Learning from Eastern Europe

Warsaw provided a particularly relevant setting for this edition of the FutureScape series. As a key strategic actor in Europe, Poland serves as a hub for support to Ukraine and increasingly shapes responses to regional instability. The setting connected historical experience with current responsibilities and framed two days of exchange on security, migration, innovation and democratic resilience.

European security was a central theme, with exchanges highlighting how experiences in Poland and across Eastern Europe have shaped a strategic perspective that places Russia’s aggression, regional resilience and support for neighbouring countries at the centre of security policy. A growing convergence in threat perceptions across Europe also raised the question of how this can translate into greater strategic cooperation and long-term thinking.

At the same time, leadership was discussed not only at the national or European level. In a conversation with Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, the role of local politics came into focus. In an increasingly polarised information environment, practical solutions and communication rooted in people’s everyday experiences were seen as essential for rebuilding trust. The conversation also touched on how factual and reliable information can remain visible as AI increasingly shapes how people access information.

From security to migration and innovation

Over the course of the workshop, participants split into three thematic working groups on security, migration and social cohesion, and innovation. The smaller-group format created space to examine broader European challenges alongside the questions participants encounter in their own fields of work.

The exchange focused on how Europe can become more resilient and better equipped to respond to long-term change. Topics ranged from geopolitical dependencies and security concerns to demographic and labour-market pressures, migration and social cohesion, and the conditions needed for innovation to scale across Europe.

Several structural challenges emerged: fragmented national approaches, complex regulation and bureaucracy, limited long-term planning, and the difficulty of translating strategic priorities into political action. Other priorities included stronger investment in research and development, more effective procurement, clearer priorities for strategic technologies, and more sustainable approaches to migration, integration and labour mobility.

Underlying these conversations was a larger question: how can Europe move beyond short-term crisis management and develop a clearer vision of where it wants to be in the years ahead — while communicating complex trade-offs in a way that maintains public trust?

Preparing democratic structures for the future

The event closed with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, head of Belarus's United Transitional Cabinet, and her Chief of Staff Franak Viačorka, in conversation with GMF's Sudha David-Wilp. From exile, Belarusian democratic forces are maintaining relationships with democratic governments and building partnerships that could support a future democratic transition. They are also working to preserve political agency among Belarusians abroad and prepare structures that may become relevant “the day after” a change of regime.

This perspective reinforced one of the broader lessons of the workshop: resilience is not only about reacting to pressure once it occurs. Democratic leadership needs to build trust, resilience, and shared responsibility long before they are put to the test. It also means creating strong democratic institutions, relationships and strategic capacity needed before a crisis or moment of change arrives. Across security, migration and innovation, the exchanges in Warsaw repeatedly returned to the same challenge: Europe needs more than good policy ideas. It also needs the political leadership, public trust and institutional capacity to turn them into action.