An East-West divide within the EU in the making?

A pro-government weekly carries a call by a conservative Polish analyst for East European unity against what he regards as unfettered domination by Western élites.

In Figyelő, Grzegorz Górny, a columnist at Sieci Prawdy, a weekly supportive of the ruling right-wing party in Poland, deplores a drive by the West to impose on the V4 countries its own solutions ‘that we over here regard as detrimental not just to us but to the whole of Europe’. The real stake of the debates underway at present about various issues (clearly a reference to controversies over the rule of law and migration), Górny thinks, is to what extent medium size countries are autonomous actors in the European Union – ‘can they influence the crucial decisions concerning their future or do those decisions have unavoidably to be taken in Paris, Brussels and Berlin?’ He praises Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as the first politician who had the courage to oppose the model of ‘no other alternatives’ in European politics. Two years ago, he was joined by Poland when the party of Law and Justice won the elections there. Górny believes that the new Polish-Croatian initiative of the ‘Three Seas’ may confer on Eastern Europe a strong voice in protecting their own visions and interests, for the 12 countries of the area between the Baltic, the Adriatic and the Black Seas represent a total population of 90 million people. These millions are doomed ‘to cooperation and solidarity’ with one another if they want their voices to be heard within the Union, the Polish analyst concludes.

Tags: 3 Seas, Orbán, Visegrád 4