THIRTY YEARS on from the founding of the trade union Solidarity finds Poland divided internally about its legacy and continuing role, but much more confident than 10 years ago about its position within the wider Europe the movement helped precipitate. Ceremonies to mark the anniversary in Gdansk were marked by bitter animosity between the country’s two main political blocs, the conservative liberal Civic Union and the nationalist-populist Law and Justice party.
But the recently elected President Bronislaw Komorowski now calls for budgetary solidarity between richer and poorer parts of the European Union in return for Poland’s willingness to assume more responsibility within it, and to develop better relations with its historical antagonists Russia and Germany. His political alignment with the Civic Union- led government, having defeated Jaroslav Kaczynski in July’s presidential elections, gives Polish policy greater coherence internally and externally, since he has the power to propose and veto legislation, make appointments and intervene in foreign and security policy.
Mr Komorowski’s victory followed the death of his predecessor Lech Kaczynski, Jaroslav’s twin brother, last April when the plane carrying him and 95 leading Poles crashed in Russian territory near Katyn, the forest site where thousands of their compatriots were murdered in 1940 on Stalin’s orders. Thus this has been a really turbulent five months in Poland’s history. It is a tribute to its political maturity that these events did not destabilise its politics or worsen relations with Russia. Sharp divisions between the two political blocs over recent years on economic, social and European policies and over the historical legacy of communism have been expressed through a functioning electoral and party system. Strong economic growth has helped too, insulating Poland from the global financial crisis, providing employment for returning emigrants and to some extent mitigating levels of poverty in a more unequal society.
Mr Komorowski and the government led by Donald Tusk are keen to link this economic success to broader EU policies. They are willing to help fund the euro zone emergency financial facility and hold out the prospect of joining the single currency over the medium term. In return they want to see cohesion, regional and agricultural funding continuing to flow to Poland. Other priorities are the development of a more effective common energy policy and a collective EU effort to improve relations with Russia.
Deeper engagement with the EU is taken by Civic Union policy-makers to be a sine qua non for a more active and sympathetic approach to Poland’s eastern neighbourhood – equally understandable given the experience of invasion, partition and war which has blighted the country’s modern history. The Law and Justice party’s more sovereigntist approach ruled this out. It will be instructive to see how that party responds if such foreign policy changes are successfully achieved. This is an important time in Poland’s emergence as a large player in European politics.