‘Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła’, which translates to ‘Poland Is Not Yet Lost’, is the first verse of Poland’s national anthem, written by Polish nobleman Józef Wybicki in 1797. It’s an unusual text for an anthem, but the dramatism of these words is not accidental.
Poland vanished from the map in 1795, partitioned among the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Austria, reappeared back in 1918 and then disappeared again under the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact of 1939 – ceasing to exist for a total of 123 years.
Modern Poland is bringing a similar existential dramatism to the EU. Under the conservative nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government, Poland has put brakes on European integration. Following Brexit, some commentators have dubbed ‘Polexit’ as a likely candidate for the next stage of EU unravelling.
With almost 38 million people, Poland is by far the biggest EU member to have joined since the 2004 enlargement.
Few remember the Phare programme for pre-accession. It stood for Poland and Hungary: Assistance for Restructuring their Economies, but was often humorously referred to as “Poland, Hungary and the rest”.
It’s not very flattering, but “the rest” refers to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, and Cyprus.
Strangely enough though, it’s precisely Poland and Hungary who went on to become the EU’s biggest internal troublemakers, while “the rest” have been much more enthusiastic in their displays of loyalty and family spirit.
It may be another example of the Polish taste for dramatism, but opposition leader Donald Tusk warned just ahead of the 15 October vote that if the PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński wins the elections, he will lead the country out of the EU.
After a cliffhanger night which had millions glued to their screens in anticipation of exit polls, it now appears that despite PiS being the relative winner with 36% of the vote – Tusk’s Civic coalition (KO) has 31% – it is KO who is likely to form a governing coalition.
Together with the party Third Way (Trzecia Droga, centre-right, 14%) and the Left (Lewica, 8%), KO will likely muster a total of 248 seats, surpassing the 231 required for a majority.
Election officials said turnout was around 72.9%, the highest since the fall of communism in 1989. Reportedly people queued to cast their vote past midnight (under the rules, as long as there are people still queuing outside the voting sections, voting must continue).
Apparently, Poles understood the stakes. In huge election rallies across Poland, we saw them flying the EU flag.
Poland is not yet lost to the EU.
Reestablishing the rule of law will undoubtedly elevate Poland to the important place it deserves in the bloc, joining the big four – France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
As it is rapidly becoming a major military power, Poland will certainly gain weight in the Weimar Triangle with France and Germany, and it would have a natural leading role in formats such as the Three Seas initiative and the Bucharest Nine format.
And it will make a huge difference if at EU summits Poland is represented by Donald Tusk, given his rich experience as the European Council president.
In a world where good news can feel evasive, the Polish elections provide a rare occasion for optimism. And with the EU elections of next June fast approaching, the Polish example is a welcome boost for the EU polls.
The Roundup
European Union countries’ climate ministers meet on Monday to decide the bloc’s negotiating position for this year’s COP28 summit – but they are still split over some key issues, like how hard to push for a global deal to phase out fossil fuels.
As members of the European Parliament prepare to vote on their position on the proposed EU law to ban products made with forced labour from the EU market, they reiterated their call on member states to accelerate their negotiations.
French opposition members have hit out at the government’s efforts to rein in electricity prices as part of EU talks to reform the bloc’s power market, saying the executive will be judged during the 2024 European elections.
EU countries are set to start discussions on the inclusion of the financial sector under the scope of the proposed EU corporate accountability directive, in an effort to find a negotiating mandate and strike a deal with the European Parliament.
A leaked version of the European Commission’s work programme for 2024 lists none of the remaining EU sustainable food files, seemingly confirming stakeholders’ worst fears that these proposals will not see the light of day before next June’s EU elections.
Talks to boost the European Peace Facility (EPF), the EU’s funding mechanism to sustain European military deliveries to Ukraine, are unlikely to be finished before EU leaders sit down to review the bloc’s entire budget in December.
As the shift towards electric vehicles majorly changes the employment structure of the automotive industry, car regions should be supported with EU money, the economy minister of Germany’s state of Saxony-Anhalt, Sven Schulze, told Euractiv in an interview.
Nobel Peace laureate Martti Ahtisaari, who served as Finland’s 10th president between 1994 and 2000, died on Monday at the age of 86, the Finnish president’s office said in a statement.
Leaders of the European Commission, Council, and key EU leaders are adamant that dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade must continue, despite uncertainty over the recent attack in north Kosovo, just one of many divergences on display at the Berlin Process Summit in Tirana on Monday.
When China launched its Belt and Road Initiative 10 years ago, it touted huge infrastructure spending linking it with Western Europe, which as recently as 2019, Britain’s then-finance minister said had “tremendous potential to spread prosperity and sustainable development”.
The French government convened trade unions and business organisation leaders for a high-level ‘social conference’ that focuses on wage increases on Monday, months after a much-decried pension reform brought government-union dialogue to a standstill.
Look out for…
- Meeting of Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) in Luxembourg on Tuesday.
- Commission President Ursula von der Leyen participates in European Parliament’s plenary debate on terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
- Justice and Home Affairs Council meets in Luxembourg Thursday-Friday.
- Parliament debates effectiveness of the EU sanctions on Russia on Tuesday.
- Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council meets on Tuesday.
Views are the author’s
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
