Post by pieter on Jun 17, 2007 6:26:43 GMT -7
This is an e-amail I received from Wojtek, and with his permission I post it here because it's about this subject:
Hi Pieter,
Both of us seem to understand the nature of EU power diversication very much alike and I believe that we are correct. In fact it is not just Polish government opposing the double majority but the whole political scene - except the postcommunist *SLD (sic!). It is a real paradox that Warsaw is sometimes accused of being egoistic or nationalist in this late incompatibility. I think that what they are doing is in fact defending the fundamentals on which EU was constructed - a federation in which no country is superior to another one, no matter how densly populated or how huge. Of course some way has to be found to make such a complicated structure possible to navigate. Btw. the statistics say that with Nice voting system EU did much better than before Nice.
From Polish point of view (except SLD, as I said) the double majority voting system in EU Council, so stongly insisted on by Berlin, means the strenghtening the democratic element in EU. The democracy is the best system invented for seperate countries, yes, but EU we have enetered was (and still is) a federal constuction! Of course it is good to think that may be someday we will all become one country but... we aren't yet. And I have an impression that all this pressure on Poles make them more reluctant to go the 'superstate' road.
The stronger the inter-state democratic element in EU the weaker the federal one joining the big ones and the little ones on equal rights. What is more, the double majority system gives special spur to the biggest, already powerful states, among them Germany first of all. At the same time it seems more and more clear that since Gerhard Schroeder, and now continued by Angela Merkel, German policies head at taking a constant lead in Europe. Poland has difficulty accepting that even when in many aspects taking over such constant leadreship is by some taken for granted and natural. Poland has a problem accepting that, yes, but not beacause of alleged anti-German phobia (Poles are much more fond of Germany and Germans than vice versa) and not because of the alleged hypersensitivity due to Germany's bloody past, and not beacuse of Polish nationalism (yes, still existent but every year more marginal). Such simplifications are done by those who don't really know or understand Poland or by those who simply want to avoid the intelectual debate with the arguments presented. Of course, Poles do have their reasons making the unemotional acceptance of German leadership difficult. But Polish resistance takes its roots elsewhere, and the reasons of that resistance are much more complicated and deeper. We can achieve some insight into these reasons observing present tensions which are in fact related to the change in fundamentals of the road we'll all move in the future which Berlin forces and Warsaw opposes. It is not about Warszawa not wanting to go that road together with the other 26 states, not at all. We are often confronted with argumentation that Polish resistance is strange since the voting system is not that important. If so, then why Germany so insists on the changes? This stubborness on Berlin's part demonstrates that Berlin is perfectly aware of the matter Warsaw knows: the real stake in the this game is the ability to control this political element in case of disgreement which already exists in EU. On the everyday basis this political element in EU is well hidden under trans-national, multicultural rhetorics. In this rhetoric it is opposed to national state of the past intercation. But from this Polish point of view (and you may believe me we are keen observers of the political scene in Europe and elsewhere - history has taught us to do so in order to remain secure), from this Polish point of view the forms of political life and ... competition, may be changing, may be becoming more and more marginal (yes, they are becoming marginal in EU, that's its charm, and that's why Poles LOVE EU), but they do exist. Sooner or later the stronger will say - it will be so, because I have the majority. It really doesn't matter that in the constitution draft, now revived, it is Germany which is such 'strongest' guy, Poland would oppose any such possobility. If Poland will be succesfull, I don't know. I am not anxious about Poland being unsuccesful. I fear that Poles become mistrustful to Germany due to (un)-negotiations style. And I fear that beacuse I am deeply pro-EU and wouldn't wish a political emergence of some freaks wanting Poland out of EU... On the other hand... would Germany like the anti-EU military on Odra (Oder) river, some 80 km from Berlin? A strange world it is and although you may think I have gone nuts, I am just soberly presenting the situation as I see it. And I see it that Poland is still more connected to the idea of being 'free' than being a part of non-federal union of countries.
Cheers,
Wojtek
Hi Pieter,
Both of us seem to understand the nature of EU power diversication very much alike and I believe that we are correct. In fact it is not just Polish government opposing the double majority but the whole political scene - except the postcommunist *SLD (sic!). It is a real paradox that Warsaw is sometimes accused of being egoistic or nationalist in this late incompatibility. I think that what they are doing is in fact defending the fundamentals on which EU was constructed - a federation in which no country is superior to another one, no matter how densly populated or how huge. Of course some way has to be found to make such a complicated structure possible to navigate. Btw. the statistics say that with Nice voting system EU did much better than before Nice.
From Polish point of view (except SLD, as I said) the double majority voting system in EU Council, so stongly insisted on by Berlin, means the strenghtening the democratic element in EU. The democracy is the best system invented for seperate countries, yes, but EU we have enetered was (and still is) a federal constuction! Of course it is good to think that may be someday we will all become one country but... we aren't yet. And I have an impression that all this pressure on Poles make them more reluctant to go the 'superstate' road.
The stronger the inter-state democratic element in EU the weaker the federal one joining the big ones and the little ones on equal rights. What is more, the double majority system gives special spur to the biggest, already powerful states, among them Germany first of all. At the same time it seems more and more clear that since Gerhard Schroeder, and now continued by Angela Merkel, German policies head at taking a constant lead in Europe. Poland has difficulty accepting that even when in many aspects taking over such constant leadreship is by some taken for granted and natural. Poland has a problem accepting that, yes, but not beacause of alleged anti-German phobia (Poles are much more fond of Germany and Germans than vice versa) and not because of the alleged hypersensitivity due to Germany's bloody past, and not beacuse of Polish nationalism (yes, still existent but every year more marginal). Such simplifications are done by those who don't really know or understand Poland or by those who simply want to avoid the intelectual debate with the arguments presented. Of course, Poles do have their reasons making the unemotional acceptance of German leadership difficult. But Polish resistance takes its roots elsewhere, and the reasons of that resistance are much more complicated and deeper. We can achieve some insight into these reasons observing present tensions which are in fact related to the change in fundamentals of the road we'll all move in the future which Berlin forces and Warsaw opposes. It is not about Warszawa not wanting to go that road together with the other 26 states, not at all. We are often confronted with argumentation that Polish resistance is strange since the voting system is not that important. If so, then why Germany so insists on the changes? This stubborness on Berlin's part demonstrates that Berlin is perfectly aware of the matter Warsaw knows: the real stake in the this game is the ability to control this political element in case of disgreement which already exists in EU. On the everyday basis this political element in EU is well hidden under trans-national, multicultural rhetorics. In this rhetoric it is opposed to national state of the past intercation. But from this Polish point of view (and you may believe me we are keen observers of the political scene in Europe and elsewhere - history has taught us to do so in order to remain secure), from this Polish point of view the forms of political life and ... competition, may be changing, may be becoming more and more marginal (yes, they are becoming marginal in EU, that's its charm, and that's why Poles LOVE EU), but they do exist. Sooner or later the stronger will say - it will be so, because I have the majority. It really doesn't matter that in the constitution draft, now revived, it is Germany which is such 'strongest' guy, Poland would oppose any such possobility. If Poland will be succesfull, I don't know. I am not anxious about Poland being unsuccesful. I fear that Poles become mistrustful to Germany due to (un)-negotiations style. And I fear that beacuse I am deeply pro-EU and wouldn't wish a political emergence of some freaks wanting Poland out of EU... On the other hand... would Germany like the anti-EU military on Odra (Oder) river, some 80 km from Berlin? A strange world it is and although you may think I have gone nuts, I am just soberly presenting the situation as I see it. And I see it that Poland is still more connected to the idea of being 'free' than being a part of non-federal union of countries.
Cheers,
Wojtek