Speech by President Donald Tusk at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

It is a great honour for me to be able to speak to such an esteemed group and at such a special moment as the centenary of your university. Even more so, since we can say without much exaggeration that this is your university's 500th anniversary. After all, it was precisely half a millennium ago that Jan Lurański was granted the charter and the construction of the first university began. And it has endured to this day, with a few interruptions. So when students from your university and their tutors came to me in Brussels some time ago with an invitation to attend today's ceremony, I promised that I would try. A while later, the phone rang. It was the former prime minister, Ewa Kopacz, who is also here today, and she said: "It is Wielkopolska, it is Poznań, it is the centenary of a great university. There is no trying, you have to be there." There was no room for negotiation, so here I am.

Ladies and gentlemen, universities are a serious issue. They are a European issue. Sometimes, in quieter times, it seems that universities are just places where students learn, where doctors and professors lecture. But there are times when we suddenly realise that universities are the backbone of Europe. That universities are a guarantee of freedom. That universities are public spaces without which no democracy can survive.

We remember how much discussion was triggered in Europe by the decision to shut down the Central European University in Budapest. That was the moment when all leaders – with very different views on the world, on politics, on freedom – spoke out without exception. They spoke about the relationship between political power and universities, the limits of freedom, responsibility for one's words. It was a discussion about the role of universities themselves. In Poland too, there was an uproar just a few days ago following one of the speeches at the University of Warsaw. I was both a witness and a participant on that occasion and, interestingly, the political frenzy surrounding the words that were spoken there has, in my view, obscured the essence of the problem. The key question today is: how much freedom do Polish universities have? Why do we really need universities? Do universities in Europe, in our country, want to – I actually have no doubt about that – and can they fully carry out this so-called third mission – the mission of organising public life outside of lectures, outside of knowledge as such? The mission of organising people who have different views and extending hospitality to them to give them the opportunity to express those – not always reconcilable – different views? This mission of universities is, in fact, the essence of Europeanness.

In fact, Europe is that extraordinary tension and that beautiful space between a cathedral and a university, between revealed truth and intellectual, and sometimes emotional, rebellion.

In my own past, I remember when Professor Roman Łapiński, my thesis supervisor, called me and said that due to certain political events at the University of Gdańsk, the political police at the time were putting on pressure for a group of students, including myself, to be removed from the university. He said: "This is how I answered," Professor Łapiński said. "You say that students have crossed certain lines. But I would like to say that university is all about crossing certain lines – lines of dogma, lines of doctrine, lines of routine." And he said: "I don't know if I can protect you. I don't know if I can protect my own position, but please cross the lines."

At this point a saying of Voltaire's is of the essence. He was said to have written these words in a letter to Helvétius. But it is not historical accuracy about who actually wrote them that matters to us now, rather the words themselves: "I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it". I think that everyone without exception, regardless of their political views, regardless of where they work, would also subscribe to those words today – at least I hope so. Europe will be the Europe we voted for, and Poland will be the free democracy we fought for, as long as nobody intimidates, persecutes or imprisons anybody for their beliefs or for expressing their thoughts or artistic sensibilities.

The storm that arose around the university speech has gone unnoticed in, for example, Brussels or other capitals. Perhaps because in many places in Europe it is only natural for people to exchange controversial views. However, one piece of news has, unfortunately, spread around the whole world: the news that the creator of a certain piece of graffiti – a controversial one – of the Virgin Mary with a rainbow in the background had been arrested and subjected to hours of questioning. As someone from Gdańsk, I have had the opportunity from birth to commune with similar works. One of them hangs in St Mary's Church. It is a copy of Hans Memling's painting, 'The Last Judgement'. In the centre of the picture is the figure of Christ, and in the background is a huge rainbow.

From Iran to Russia, Spain, England and the United States, everyone has taken note of this strange event. I saw that following her arrest, thanking some of her friends for their support on the internet, she wrote: "I am very tired, but more than anything else, I just can't get my head around it all". To be honest, I can't get my head around it either.

I am talking about this because I am convinced that your university has survived, and will survive, all the ups and downs of history as long as its mission of diversity and its faith in the spirit of diversity and freedom are respected and put into practice. Ultimately, behind this conviction and this mission is a certain article of our Constitution, which states that everyone is guaranteed the freedom of artistic creation and scientific research as well as of the dissemination of the fruits of that research, and the freedom to teach and to enjoy the products of culture.

Today in Poznań, on your centenary, perhaps it is worth saying very clearly that within the walls of a university and, more broadly, in any public space, freedom should not relieve anyone of their responsibility for what they say, nor should a sense of responsibility stifle anyone's freedom. Of course, all that's really needed to understand this is a little goodwill, and sometimes a little common sense, and we will avoid misunderstandings in the future. Adam Mickiewicz University – or more broadly, the University of Poznań, but I am using its traditional name – is also renowned for its graduates, who are extremely diverse.

The university which gave a Master's degree to Adam Michnik and to Roman Giertych is indeed a university that can accommodate a lot: a lot of thoughts, a lot of opinions. The university where Hanna Suchocka is a professor, and Joachim Brudziński studied for his PhD – and I can't imagine a political party which would be able to accommodate them both – your university had no problem in accommodating them. I believe that the motto in varietate concordia – the motto of the European Union – fits perfectly, and could be – and to all intents and purposes is – the motto and essence of your work here in Poznań. Today, in conclusion, I would like to repeat something which I believe very deeply and have been repeating for a long time now, namely that we must try at all costs, both within the walls of our universities and at home in Poland and in Europe, to find what unites us and what we have in common – the very word 'university' compels. That fairly old thought still evokes surprisingly strong feelings in me – to unite, not divide. Please allow me, therefore, to use a few words said by a much greater authority, especially here in Poznań – Ignacy Jan Paderewski.

This is all the more important to me since he also said something else in which I believe profoundly, namely that Gdańsk is the window without which Poland would not be able to breathe. These words meant something a little different at the time, and they mean something a little different today, but they still have extraordinary power. A hundred years ago, Paderewski said here in Poznań: "No party will ever succeed in rebuilding the homeland. That task will require unity and harmony among all, love and strength, faith and mutual support. That task will require all the strength and all the heart of the community. Long live Poland, harmony, unity, and our homeland will live freely for all time."

(delivered in Polish)