To: European Tech Ecosystem Network Participants ,Europa Power Conference 2026
This statement reflects the independent assessment of the Lech Wałęsa Institute and does not engage the official position of any government or European institution.
1. Context and Continuity.
As Co-Chair of the European Tech Ecosystem Network of the Europa Power Initiative, and The Board of the Instytut Lecha Wałęsy ( President Lech Walesa Institute, founded by Lech Walesa awarded with Nobel Peace Prize), we present this statement as a direct continuation of the discussions held in Warsaw on 29 September 2026.
The Warsaw Conference brought together President Lech Wałęsa, leading figures of Polish economic and energy policy, representatives of major state-owned enterprises, international partners and independent experts who worked in 10+ Polish Governments in last 35 years. Its purpose was clear: to examine the real conditions under which Europe – and particularly Central Europe – can remain competitive,innovative and sovereign in the decade ahead.
The Europa Power Conference in Strasbourg (21–23 October 2026) asks the fundamental question: what kind of power does Europe want to become, and for what purpose? The answer cannot be abstract. Power begins with the capacity of enterprises, researchers and innovators to act.
That capacity is today under severe pressure from energy costs that are structurally higher than those faced by our global competitors.
2. Key Conclusions of the Warsaw Conference (29 September 2026)
The experts and practitioners gathered under the auspices of the Instytut Lecha Wałęsy reached a clear and urgent consensus, which I summarise as follows:
First – the ETS burden is crushing competitiveness and innovation. The costs associated with the European Emissions Trading System currently constitute between 40 % and 55 % of the final price of energy in Poland and several other Central European Member States.
As a direct consequence, European energy prices remain approximately twice as high as those in China, India or even Canada.Under such conditions there is no realistic prospect of catching up with the technological and industrial advances of the United States or China, of attracting large-scale investors, or of sustaining a vibrant ecosystem of start-ups and scale-ups in energy-intensive or data-intensive sectors.
Second – the method of calculating and operating the ETS must be radically revised. The present design of the system, while conceived with legitimate climate objectives, has produced perverse effects on industrial location, investment decisions and the financing of innovation. A fundamental recalibration is required if Europe is to retain both its climate ambition and its industrial base.
Third – speculative financial intermediaries must be removed from the CO₂ allowance market. Large financial institutions and intermediaries that have no compliance obligation under the ETS have for years treated emission allowances as purely financial products, amplifying volatility and driving prices higher. Their exclusion from the market – or at least a drastic restriction of their role – is a precondition for restoring the system to its original purpose: the cost-effective reduction of emissions by those who actually emit.
3. Implications for Europe’s Technological Power
The European Tech Ecosystem Network is mandated to examine how Europe can turn scientific excellence and academic freedom into technological leadership – by supporting research, scaling innovation and developing sovereign capabilities in artificial intelligence and other critical technologies. None of these ambitions can be realised if the cost of energy and the cost of capital remain structurally uncompetitive.
High and volatile energy prices directly affect:
- data centres and cloud infrastructure essential for AI training and deployment;
- advanced manufacturing and clean-tech production that Europe seeks to on-shore;
- research laboratories and pilot plants that convert scientific discovery into industrial prototypes;
- the ability of European start-ups and scale-ups to compete with counterparts operating in lower-cost energy jurisdictions.
In short: without affordable, predictable and competitively priced energy, Europe’s technological sovereignty remains an aspiration rather than a reality. The conclusions reached in Warsaw on 29 September therefore constitute an indispensable input into the work of the Tech Ecosystem Network and of the wider Europa Power Initiative.
4. The Distinctive Voice of the Lech Wałęsa Institute.
President Lech Wałęsa Institute does not represent any government. It represents people, enterprises and social challenges irrespective of the political colour of the administration in office. Precisely for this reason its voice can be stronger and more durable than that of commercial lobbyists.
We do not seek to compete with other stakeholders; we seek to complement them in those areas where our independent diagnosis coincides with theirs – especially in the present tense geopolitical situation.
The Warsaw Conference demonstrated with Lech Walesa Energy Medals Ceremony that this independent, cross-partisan, society-rooted perspective is both necessary and welcome. It is in the same spirit that we bring these conclusions to Strasbourg.
5. Concrete Recommendations for the Europa Power Initiative 2026.
On the basis of the Warsaw deliberations we propose that the European Tech Ecosystem Network and the Europa Power Conference 2026 as a whole should:
- Place the reform of the EU Emissions Trading System – including the exclusion or strict limitation of purely financial actors from the CO₂ allowance market – among the ten Europa Power Priorities to be presented on 23 October 2026.
- Explicitly link technological sovereignty (AI, clean tech, advanced manufacturing) to the prerequisite of competitive energy prices in Central and Eastern Europe.
- Call for an immediate, evidence-based review of the methodology used to calculate ETS costs passed through to industrial and innovative users of energy.
- Strengthen the dialogue between independent civil-society institutes such as the Instytut Lecha Wałęsy and the formal institutions of the European Union, so that the voice of enterprises and citizens most affected by energy costs is heard alongside that of established commercial interests.
6. Closing Appeal
Europe’s moment for courage will remain incomplete if it does not address the daily reality faced by Polish, Central European and other European firms whose innovation capacity is being eroded by energy costs that their global competitors simply do not bear. The Instytut Lecha Wałęsy stands ready to continue this work – in Warsaw, in Strasbourg and wherever the future of European power is decided.
We invite the participants of the European Tech Ecosystem Network, the co-founders of the Europa Power Initiative and all present in Strasbourg to take the conclusions of 29 September 2026 as a practical contribution to the common endeavour of building a Europe that is both powerful and faithful to its founding values of freedom, solidarity and human dignity.
