When Poland was accepted into the European Union in May, 2004, the countries of Eastern and Central Europe neighboring with it were seriously wary that in the new quality Warsaw will begin to act carelessly, paying no attention to the common interests of the European Community's "new members". However, today, a year and a half later it is possible to say with confidence, that the fearsof the Czech, Slovaks, Hungarians and Baltics were not justified. On the contrary, for the last year Poland has turned into a consolidating center of "Eastern" opposition inside the European Union. There are good reasons to believe that after the change of authority in Warsaw, this tendency will not disapear, but, on the contrary, will be strengthened.
The Summit of "The Children of Solidarity "
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| "Solidarity" ("Solidarnosc") logo |
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Almost one month ago, on August, 31, 2005, the representatives of more than 20 countries have gathered in the Polish city of Gdansk to celebrate the 25-anniversary of the well-known organization "Solidarity" ("Solidarnosc"). At the beginning of the Eighties its leader, and nowadays the honourable pensioner, Lech Walesa, headed the unique mass movement in the whole Communistic bloc, which acted for the change of the regime. In fact, "Solidarity" was the first to really rock the shabby ship of Communism, and, finally, after 6 years of underground activity (1983-89), took the power in Poland to its hands. The organization does not exist already for a long time, and party Solidarity Electoral Action (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarnosc - AWS) formed on its base lost in the 2001 elections to the Sejm and forever disappeared from a political map of Poland. However, the birthday of "Solidarity" served as a good occasion for a meeting of Poles with their allies and a fine background for discussion of relevant questions of geopolitics.
The overwhelming majority of the Presidents and Prime Ministers who arrived on the celebration represented the countries of East and Central Europe freed at the end of the Eighties - the beginning of the Nineties from Moscow's grip. They actively communicated as with Poles so among themselves behind the scenes. For example, from the representatives of the office of the prime minister of Latvia Aigars Kalvitis it became known that he met his Polish colleague Marek Belka in Warsaw. The politicians have discussed not only the questions of mutual relations, but also an opportunity of development of the common approach to the of the countries applying for a membership in EU (Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia) and to the question on financial prospects of the European Community for the period of 2007-2013. Besides, Kalvitis met with his colleagues from Estonia, Finland and Croatia, and also with the President of Serbia Boris Tadic. As it became known, the dialogue of Riga with Belgrade will be continued in October, 2005, within the framework of the visit of the Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs Artis Pabriks to the Serbian capital.
Thus, Poland is becoming a place were the future geopolitical unions of Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe are created today. In this connection it is possible to recollect also the special activity of the Polish diplomacy on the background of a Council of Europe summit, which took place in Warsaw in May, 2005.
There, with a participation of the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Adam Rotfeld, a number of quiet meetings between the leaders of the region was carried out. Besides, an active position of the present Polish leadership concerning Ukraine and Belarus must be mentioned.
Currently Poland is a command post of struggle for the future status of both countries.
The Union of Four
In this context it is necessary to mention the activity of Warsaw within the framework of a forum of four countries of the Central Europe, known as the Visegrad Group or V-4. This international organization was established almost 15 years ago, on February, 15, 1991, by the President of Czechoslovakia Vaclav Havel, his Polish colleague Lech Walesa and the Prime Minister of Hungary Jozsef Antall.
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| President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski (L) and Vaclav Havel |
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Its main purpose at that time was as well as today to rally the states of the Central Europe, based on common culture, history and, the most important, geopolitical interests. With this purpose the annual meetings at the level of Prime Ministers, and also numerous frameworks for practical cooperation at the lower levels, in such areas as culture, science and education were organized.
Especially effective this forum was in first two years of its existence when its members coordinated efforts during the establishing of the democratic societies, and also during the integration into the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union. In 1993 instead of Czechoslovakia two independent countries appeared –The Czech Republic and Slovakia. Prague and Bratislava confirmed their participation in the Visegrad Group and, thus, it turned into the Union of four Central European countries - the V-4
After the achievement of the main purposes of the group – accession into NATO in 1999 (Slovakia - in 2004) and into the European Community (2004), it seemed that the group's existence has come to the end. However the countries - participants have decided differently. Visegrad Group was not only kept alive, but also it managed to occupy an active position already within the framework of the European Union. The new official purposes of the group were stated in the document named "Declaration of Prime Ministers in year 2004". It was noted in it the need for strengthening the identity of the Central European region, and also about the joint contribution "to the fulfillment of the European Union's common goals and objectives and to the successful continuation of the European integration ".
However behind these general formulations was hiding another, officially not proclaimed purpose of creation in the Central Europe of the new geopolitical axis capable in time "to acquire" also the countries of the Eastern Europe and to become a counterbalance to the old geopolitical axis of the European Union uniting Paris and Berlin. Therefore not surprisingly that Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava and Budapest started to lobby the expansion of the European Community towards such countries as Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia and even Turkey. Not surprisingly as well is that the leadership of the European Community up to this day refuses to recognize officially the existence of the Visegrad Group and even minimally to finance its activity.
Hot Summer of the Polish Diplomacy
During the last summer Warsaw especially distinctly shown its adherence to the Visegrad principles. A lot of the diplomatic actions carried out by it testified to the aspiration to strengthen the position of Poland and the Central Europe as a whole within the framework of the European Community before such important event of the all-European scale, as the summit of EU over the budget for 2007-2013 takes place (the first summit, in June, 2005, has ended with the failure, the second is sheduled to the end of October this year).
The fact that member states of Central and the Eastern Europe are not pleased with unfair, in their opinion, distribution of the EU's budget is nor a secret for anybody in the Union.
Establishing of the common position on this painful question was one of the main tasks of two summits of the V-4 countries' Prime Ministers, which took place on June, 10 and on August, 30, 2005 in the Polish city of Kazimierz Dolny and in the capital of Hungary Budapest.
The interesting fact is that the result of the first meeting, besides the joint Declaration on the EU, became also the Declaration on the Ukraine. Alongside with the discussion of strategy of struggle for the European financial streams, the heads of the governments of V-4 have found necessary to engage in developing of a strategy of political and economic cooperation with Kiev. This approach testifies that in the eyes of the Central-European politicians both problems are equally important for achievement of their geopolitical aims.
In this context, the visit of the President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski to Estonia, in the beginning of July, 2005 is also very interesting. His statement "the Polish-Estonian cooperation will serve to the strengthening of positions of both countries, both in the Baltic region, and in the European Community" was the key moment of his press conference in Tallinn. Thus, at a conceptual level, connection between the
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Poland's Prime Minister
Marek Belka |
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development of relations with the countries of the Baltic region and the degree of the Poland's influence inside the European Community was precisely designated. Other diplomatic events similar on their geopolitical value became the visit to Warsaw of a delegations of the Air Forces of Ukraine (09.08.2005), and also the abovementioned celebrations on the occasion of the 25-anniversary of "Solidarity" (31.08.2005). In both cases, completely purposeful efforts of official Warsaw on expansion of the influence to the huge region - from the Baltics in the North till Ukraine in the East and up to the Balkans in the South took place.
Summing up it is necessary to note especially the fact that the described behaviour of the present Polish leadership in the foreign policy sphere reflects carring over the long-term strategic interests of the country, without binding it to the current situation in the internal political arena. The main contributors to this are the present Prime Minister Marek Belka and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Adam Rotfeld. At the time the next summit of leaders of the Vishegrad Group countries will take place at the end of October, 2005, Poland will, most likely, have the new, right-centrist government. However, there are all reasons to believe that it will continue construction of the geopolitical axis of the Central and Eastern Europe on the fundament placed by Belka - Rotfeld tandem.
Related items:
POLAND – PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
THE POLAND'S ELECTIONS: On the Threshold of a Right-Centrist Revolution (03.09.2005)
Lukashenko's War on Poles (04.08.2005)
The Guardians of Europe: Polish secret service protects the borders of the European Union (22.05.2005)
The Great Game for Poland (17.05.2005)
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