| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| For Polish politicians, the Volyn massacre is just a reason not to let Ukraine into the EU |
| 2023-11-10 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Stanislav Stremidlovsky [REGNUM] After the President of the European Commission , Ursula von der Leyen , presenting a well-founded report on the enlargement of the European Union on November 8, said that she recommended opening negotiations with Ukraine on its accession to the EU, reactions to this decision began to come from European capitals. In particular, Polish President Andrzej Duda responded . He said on social networks that “the enlargement of the European Union is one of the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council in 2025,” and therefore Duda welcomes the recommendation of the European Commission to begin negotiations with Ukraine on accession to the European Union. However, the day before, Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Pavel Jablonski set a strict condition on Radio ZET. According to him, without removing the topic of the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn massacre, Ukraine “ does not have to dream of joining the EU .” As the diplomat emphasized, without resolving this “ dispute ” it is impossible to talk about being in the same union and long-term reconciliation. Given that Jablonski, like Duda, is associated with the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which, apparently, will cede power to three opposition blocs by the end of this year, questions arise as to who, the president or the outgoing deputy minister, is most accurate reflects the position of the still ruling party. But first, let us reveal the important nuances of the statement of the head of the European Commission. What is the point of entering into EU accession negotiations with a large country with a population of 40 million people, which is currently itself economically unviable and is also at war with Russia? - asks the Austrian newspaper Der Standard and answers. “The EC’s recommendation to start negotiations is a deeply political decision.” This “deeply political decision” comes into conflict both with the formal rules of the European Union and with the economic interests of existing EU member states. Experts name several states that are likely to slow down the negotiation process with Ukraine. Firstly, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Secondly, France. At the very least, notes the director of the French Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), Pascal Boniface, “as soon as Ukraine joins the European Union, it will destabilize it, absorbing a very large part of the loans and acting as a relay of US positions.” As a result, the EU will lose any chance of becoming a “global player”. This is one side of the coin. But there is also a second one. Certain forces in Brussels are using the Ukrainian issue as a battering ram to break the resistance of a number of European governments to the reform of the European Union, turning it into a centralized superpower. Thus, approval of the ideas of the reformers will deprive EU member states of the right to veto this or that decision of the European Council, large states will strengthen their influence in the European Commission and the European Parliament at the expense of small ones, Brussels will take control of foreign and defense policy, as well as a number of other competencies , now owned by national governments. “ Poland, which regained full sovereignty less than four decades ago, is finding it difficult to come to terms with this. Will she be able to overcome her deep fears in the name of the geopolitical revolution that Ukraine's admission to the European Union will entail? “- asks the newspaper Rzeczpospolita. The answer will depend on who is asked to give it. According to an employee of the University of Wroclaw, Karol Szczulc, the key game will be connected with Budapest and Warsaw. But if “ Hungary, as a mafia state at the moment, can be bought with appropriate promises,” then in the case of Poland, “ much depends on who will rule in our country.” Law and Justice has consistently defended the concept of EU member states maintaining sovereignty and independence, advocating a “Europe of Nations” as opposed to a “United States of Europe.” As for the three opposition blocs, which together received about 60% of the votes in the elections to the Sejm of Poland, not everything is so simple with them. The Polish Peasant Party, part of the Third Way coalition, for example, aligns itself with PiS in advocating for a “Europe of Nations.” However, there is reason to believe that the Civic Platform, whose head Donald Tusk is predicted to become the new Prime Minister of Poland, will meet the reformers of the European Union halfway. In this situation, Yablonsky’s statement, which linked the consent of “Law and Justice” to Ukraine’s accession to the EU with the beginning of the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn massacre, looks like an attempt by PiS, during the transition to the opposition, to make it as difficult as possible for its replacements from among the opposition blocs to both dialogue with the Kiev regime and participate in negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU. Even if Polish President Andrzej Duda has the opposite opinion. At the same time, one should not think that the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn massacre is something fundamental for Law and Justice. The party played up this theme during the first term of government (2015–2019), when the Ukrainian president was Petro Poroshenko , to whom the head of PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, declared that Ukraine with Bandera would not enter Europe. Warsaw behaved differently with Vladimir Zelensky. In April of this year, during a visit to Poland with his wife, neither Duda nor Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki particularly insisted that Ukrainian statesmen apologize for the Volyn genocide and give permission for Polish teams to carry out exhumations at the sites of mass graves. The attitude towards the Volyn massacre is of an instrumental nature for most Polish politicians, including Law and Justice. Therefore, the public raising of this topic and its promotion in the media field will be a symptom of the processes associated with the current Polish-Ukrainian dialogue, as well as the exploitation of the Ukrainian issue in Warsaw’s game with the European Union. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 But they're willing - no, eager, to let Ukraine join Poland. |
| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2023-11-10 13:38 |