Brussels, 03/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The sixth European Development Days (EDD), organised after the Arab Spring, will take place in Warsaw on 15-16 December. Not surprisingly, the main topic of debate will be democracy and development. This high-level forum, which brings together development players from all over the world, will also consider European development policy from 2013, Krysztof Stanowsky, Polish Under-Secretary of State for Development, and European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs announced in Warsaw on 30 September. “Events in North Africa this year confirm that social and economic development cannot be separated from democratic development”, stated Piebalgs, keen for Poland to share its experience of the transition process from an authoritarian regime to democracy and the free market, since “the lessons to be drawn may be very useful elsewhere in the world”. Stanowsky noted that his country was “the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which triggered the process of transformation in Central and Eastern Europe more than 22 years ago”. (AN/transl.rt)