Poland is preparing

The protection of religious freedom both inside and outside the frontiers of the European Union: that is one of the key commitments spelt out by Radoslaw Sikorski, Polish Foreign Minister, for the six months’ presidency of the European Council that his country will assume in the second half of 2011. Sikorski is now preparing the important role that his country will fulfil, following Hungary, through a series of meetings with other EU institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg. On the side of the EU. “We wish to commit ourselves to the safeguard of religious freedom – explains Sikorski to SIR Europe -, without having prejudices against other religious faiths”. The minister was one of the supporters of a pronouncement of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on freedom of religion and freedom of religious belief in the world, which was then adopted during the meeting of 21 February. “There’s no doubt that the issue of the protection of Christians is highly relevant today”, he adds. In a recent visit he made to the European Parliament, Sikorski met many MEPs and political groups. “I came to listen”. But he also has to reply to a barrage of questions from the mass media. Is Polish public opinion still favourable to the EU after these first years of belonging to the “common home”? “There’s a recently published survey that reports that 80% of Poles are favourable to European integration”, explains the minister to SIR Europe. “Poles are appreciative of EU membership, and have derived benefits from it: it’s enough to think of the education sector. And for us it’s an honour to come to Strasbourg and meet the Polish President [of the EP] Jerzy Buzek. It’s a sign of hope”.Neighbours. “We would like – continues Sikorsky – Poland to be perceived as a factor of success of EU integration”, and also as a protagonist able to “indicate ways of overcoming the current economic crisis. For in times of crisis we mustn’t be self-enclosed and inward-looking, but on the contrary outward-looking: we must re-launch investments, revive productivity, conquer new markets. The representative of the Polish government then touched on other issues: from the new financial framework that is being developed at the EU level to security, from enlargement to the situation in the Mediterranean. “We are favourable to the entry into the Union of new countries so long as they are determined to respect” the prescribed criteria, in terms of market economy, democracy and human rights. In this regard Sikorski mentions a possible “European fund for democracy”, which could in theory correspond to the funds formerly used for the process of rapprochement between former satellite countries of Moscow and the EU (pre-membership funds). Sikorsky then refers to Belarus, Poland’s eastern neighbour: “We were scandalized by what happened in Minsk after last December’s presidential elections. It’s up to Belarus herself to resume her path towards Europe”.Towards the eurozone? And what about relations with Moscow? “Russia must be considered an important foreign partner of the EU. It’s enough to think of trade relations and energy supplies…”. The Foreign Minister in the government of Donald Tusk skilfully blends realism and idealism in his reflections. Born in 1963, he has a past as an activist in Solidarnosc; studied in Oxford; served as a journalist in various parts of the world; and has worked in the USA (his wife is American). He moves with ease on the European scene. Will Poland join the eurozone? “Sooner or later my country will adopt the single currency”, declares Sikorski. “The Euro is a good choice, but it has a need for clear structures and rules”. He explains the point by adding: “The Stability Pact has been violated by member states. We need to reinforce financial stability and work in this direction with the Community method”. Such terms are music to the ears of MEPs: the Community method in fact is opposed to the intergovernmental method, according to which it’s the member states that hold the reins of EU, and that subordinate European integration to national interests, which can at times degenerate into forms of nationalism.Weimar and the Mediterranean. For some time Warsaw seems to have drawn closer to Berlin and Paris, reinforcing the so-called “Weimar triangle”; but can Europe submit to the pre-eminent will of only three countries? “Europe has always seen various geometric configurations within itself. There are bilateral relations between states that can then be extended to other nations”. Lastly, Sikorski devotes some remarks to the forthcoming Polish presidency (in the second half of this year): “We’ll try to do our best in the interests of the EU. Of course, unforeseen developments can always arise, as shown by the events now unfolding” in North Africa and in the Mediterranean. But ours is a country that has struggled for democracy: political stability cannot be the only criterion to maintain or forge relations with other states”. So the agenda of reforms and democracy must be continued.