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Last Updated: Oct 7, 2008 - 8:35:07 AM |
Some say Poland is the biggest of the "small countries" in the European
Union. Others call it the smallest of the "big countries."
Poland may not yet be one of the '"Big Five" alongside Germany, France,
Britain, Italy and Spain. But when it entered the EU in 2004 its
population of nearly 40 million totalled more than all the other nine
entrants of that year.
Poland: Fast becoming one of Europe's most exciting countries, says
Oakley. > Poland: Fast becoming one of Europe's most exciting
countries, says Oakley
Poland was a crucial "catch" for the EU's enlargement program, its
arrival boosting the bloc's self-confidence at an uncertain time. And
Poland has swiftly proved it can more than punch its weight
diplomatically.
Poland was the last country to settle in the fraught negotiations over
the EU's latest seven-year EU budget. It was also the last country to
agree the constitutional deal in the battle over the now-frozen Lisbon
Treaty.
By offering, along with the Czech Republic, to host installations for
the U.S. missile defence plan, now officially a NATO plan, Poland has
become a crucial focus for the EU's relations with Russia.
By spearheading efforts to bring countries like Ukraine and Georgia
closer to the EU and NATO, Poland has become the unofficial cheerleader
for those who would like to free themselves from Moscow's dominance.
With growth at around five per cent Poland is too becoming a
significant economic force in the region, with many of those who went
abroad to work in Britain and Ireland now returning to help meet the
demands of their own country's construction boom.
It is no surprise than an ARCO Insight survey last month found that
movers and shakers in Brussels reckoned Poland to be the most effective
of the 12 latest entrants in influencing EU policy.
In Poland's relationship with the EU, certainly after Donald Tusk's
pro-business, pro-EU Civic Platform party was victorious in last year's
elections against the Law and Justice party of the Kaczynsky twins, the
benefits have been mutual.
Poland has learned to rub along much better, for example, with its
powerful neighbor Germany. But it has also formed a useful practical
alliance with Sweden in pushing for the interests of the Baltic region.
If the relentlessly headline-grabbing Nicolas Sarkozy, the French
President, is currently the most interesting politician in Europe then
the fast-evolving Poland is rapidly becoming the most interesting
country in Europe, mixed up in almost every political battle that
matters.
Should Ukraine and Georgia, for instance, be admitted to NATO and EU
membership? France and Germany might have their reservations; but
Poland is right out there in the front line urging their acceptance.
And what about relations with Russia? Moscow blames Warsaw and "the
Baltics" for Brussels being much more aggressive, contesting its
determination to retain a "sphere of influence" in countries of the
former Soviet Union.
Poland's agreement to play host to the anti-missile battery of the
missile defence plan has angered Moscow and led to some blood-curdling
threats from the Russian military that it will by doing so become a
target for Russia's own missiles, a much more tangible danger than some
putative future threat from Iran.
But you would not want to play poker with Radek Sikorski, the Polish
Foreign Minister. Having some years ago as defense minister begun the
missile site negotiations, he quit the Kaczynskys' party and government
because they were not prepared to fight for enough in return.
The price he and Civic Platform's leader Donald Tusk have been
determined to extract was significant U.S. help in modernizing and
re-equipping Poland's army. They wanted to be given their own Patriot
missiles as protection against what they saw as a much more real danger
-- an aggressive regime in Moscow.
Fearful that this would be seen by Moscow as the threat they were
denying the anti-missile plan was, the U.S. said no. Warsaw held out.
The U.S. threatened to go and site its battery in Lithuania instead.
Warsaw held out.
Condoleezza Rice came to Europe and signed the deal with the Czech
Republic for their part of the missile program. Warsaw held out.
Then came the invasion of Georgia. More leverage for Radek Sikorski.
And within days Washington said yes. The Poles are getting their
Patriot missiles and their military spending.
But meanwhile they have been canny enough to keep talking to Moscow and
offering free access to the site for Russian officials. And while
Russian generals utter their threats, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian
Foreign Minister, says: "We do not see Poland itself as a source of
threats to the Russian Federation. We don't agree on everything, but
we appreciate dialogue."
Quietly, the Russian ban on Polish meat exports has been lifted, the
Polish blocking of Russian membership of various diplomatic clubs has
been dropped.
Of course Poland is not a country without problems. The infrastructure
improvements needed for a modern economy are lagging woefully. There
must be a real question whether Poland (and Ukraine) will be ready to
co-host the European Cup in 2012. Would-be investors of foreign
capital say the lingering bureaucracy of the communist years is not
being unwound fast enough.
If and when the Nordstream project to take Russia's gas under the
Baltic direct to Germany without passing over Polish territory comes to
fruition, Poland will be at risk of energy blackmail.
But what Poland has got is a raw human energy: a population of
comparatively high technical education levels and a determination to
fight for a better and independent life which goes with having had the
occupying troops of others in their country for 80 percent of the last
200 years. This is a country on the move.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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