Consensus and division over Poland's entry into the European Union

East European Quarterly

Volumn 37, Issue 4, 2003, Pages 461-473

  Pienkos, Donald E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MILWAUKEE   (United States)

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EID: 33645733939     PISSN: 00128449     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (31)

1. The results are from the Polish daily newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, June 11, 2003. The words used in the referendum were simple and straightforward. Voters were asked to check "yes" or "no" to the question: "Do you consent to the accession of the Republic of Poland to the European Union?"
2. On the specifics of the events of 1989, see Marjorie Castle and Ray Taras, Democracy in Poland, 2nd ed. (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2002), pp. 65-94;
3. and Bernard Gwertzman and Michael T. Kaufman, eds., The Collapse of Communism (New York: Time Books/Random House, 1990).
4. See also Donald E. Pienkos, For Your Freedom Through Ours: Polish American Efforts on Poland's Behalf, 1863-1991 (Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1991), pp. 220-236.
5. Peter Green, "Poles Vote Yes to Joining European Union," New York Times, June 9,2003.
6. In December 2002, ten states were granted membership in the European Union: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. By far the largest new entrant was Poland, whose population of 38.2 million was nearly equal to that of all the other states combined. The fifteen members of the European Union in 2002 were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Of these, only Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom were substantially larger in population than Poland, with Spain comparable in size. Poland's referendum followed earlier votes in Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania, and Slovakia where the voters in each of those countries had overwhelmingly approved accession. A week after the Polish vote, Czech voters approved accession in a two-day referendum by a 77-23 percent margin. Though this accession vote did not require participation by a majority of the electorate to be binding, 55 percent of the electorate did turn out. Referendums were also to be held in September 2003 in Estonia and Latvia. Cyprus chose not to use the referendum process for ratification.
7. The decision to expand was taken at the meeting of the representatives of the fifteen EU member states at Nice, France, in February 2001. Several applicants were later rejected for early admission, among them Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria. See Jan Barcz and Arkadiusz Michonski, eds.. Negotiations on Poland's Accession to the European Union: Selected Issues (Warsaw: Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2002), pp. 12-37.
8. See also Raport na temat rezultatow negocjacji o czlonkostwo Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej w Unii Europejskiej (The report on the negotiations of Poland's membership in the European Union) (Warsaw: Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2002).
9. Useful overviews of EU enlargement include Michael Baun, A Wider Europe: The Process and Politics of European Union Enlargement (Landham, MD: Rowan and Litllefield. 2000);
10. John Redmond and Jackie Gower, eds., Enlarging the European Union: The Way Forward (Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishers, 2000);
11. and its own official publication, The European Union: Still Enlarging (Brussels, 2001).
12. Aleks Szczerbiak, "Polish Public Opinion: Explaining Declining Support for EU Membership," Journal of Common Market Studies, March 2001;
13. Rachel Cichowski, "Western Dreams, Eastern Realities: Support for the European Union in Central and Eastern Europe," Comparative Political Studies 33, no. 10 (December 2000): 1243-1278;
14. Castle and Taras, Democracy in Poland, pp. 221-225.
15. Donald E. Pienkos, "Poland's 2000 Presidential Election," The Polish Review 45, no. 4 (Winter, 2000):435-444;
16. Donald E. Pienkos, "Interesting Times: Polish Politics and Elections, 1989-2001," The Polish Review 46, no. 4 (Winter, 2001): 431-440.
17. Polish political parties, their programs, leaderships, and bases of support are discussed in Castle and Taras, Democracy in Poland, pp. 95-142.
18. For a summary of the criticisms of EU membership, see J. F. O. McAllister, 'The EU - Love it or Leave it," Time, Europe edition, October 21, 2002, pp. 30-37.
19. Joining with the League of Polish Families was an American opponent of Poland's entry into the EU, Edward Moskal, president of the Polish American Congress. Moskal's position was widely known by mid-2002, even though his organization, one with a record of nearly sixty years of support for Poland's freedom and independence, never took an official stand on the issue. Moskal's role was of concern to the Polish embassy in Washington, DC. On first glance, his influence may be seen as having been exaggerated; indeed, fewer than 100,000 Poles living in the US and holding Polish passports were expected to vote in the referendum. More important were Moskal's frequent, highly publicized visits and statements in Poland after 1989, which brought him a following there. In that respect, his views were potentially significant. "Oswiadczenie Kongresu Polonii Amerykanskiej w sprawie przystapienia Polski do Unit Europejskiej" (The position of the Polish American Congress regarding Poland's admission into the European Union), Dziennik Zwiazkowy (The Daily Alliance, Chicago), December 18, 2002.
20. The statement listed 24 objections to Poland's entry into the EU, most of them similar to the views of LPR leader Giertych, who spoke to the PAC at its May 2002 national meeting. A sign of the Polish government's concern over Moskal's activities may be gauged from its decision to send Danuta Hubner, its deputy foreign ministry and secretary of the Polish committee for European integration, to make a speaking tour on the benefits of EU membership in the Polish American community. See also Jonathan Eig, "When Poland Votes on Joining the EU, Whither Chicago?" Wall Street Journal, June 2,2003.
21. Cited in Donosy, a daily internet news digest from Warsaw, May 2, 2003. The Athens statement was titled "Our Europe is a Europe for All" and stressed the importance of the EU as the engine creating a new era of democratic values and citizen empowerment after centuries of bloody conflict. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Report, April 17,2003.
22. The 2001 elections resulted in the SLD-UP coalition holding 216 of the 460 seats in the parliament. It took on as an ally the Polish Peasants Party with its 42 deputies. In opposition were the centrist free-market Citizens Platform (64 deputies), the conservative post-Solidarity Law and Justice Party (45), the populist and confrontational Peasants Self-Defense Party (53) and the Catholic, nationalist and conservative League of Polish Families (38 deputies). Two seats were awarded to representatives of the country's German ethnic minority. In the election, the governing Solidarity Electoral Action party, which had won 33.8 percent of the popular vote and 201 seats in parliament, received only 5.6 percent of the vote. It did not elect a single deputy to parliament. Its initial coalition partner, the Freedom Union, dropped from 13.4 percent of the vote and 60 deputies to 3.1 percent of the vote. It too disappeared from parliament.
23. The ongoing scandal was nicknamed "Rywingate" after the Polish movie producer Lew Rywin. The charge involved his alleged request for a $17.5 million payment from the parent company of the Gazeta Wyborcza daily newspaper to the SLD in return for its approval of a law allowing its purchase of one of the country's national television networks. Miller was implicated in the scandal but denied any involvement. Nevertheless, the scandal further soured many Poles on the corruption they saw as all too accepted in the country's politics. Peter Ford, "'Rywingate' Hearings Rivet Poles and May Signal New Era of Openness," The Christian Science Monitor, March 7, 2003.
24. One survey found Miller ranked as the second most distrusted public figure in the country. Donosy, April 19, 2003.
25. In early April, the respected Warsaw daily, Rzeczpospolita, published an extensive interview with President Kwasniewski in which his differences with Prime Minister Miller were identified. Although the two men quickly arranged a meeting after which they minimized their differences-thus avoiding a new "war at the top" reminiscent of the 1990 argument between Lech Walesa and Poland's prime minister at that time, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a "war" that irreparably damaged Solidarity-Miller was clearly embarrassed by the episode.
26. On May 15, the government's top official in charge of mobilizing popular support for Poland's accession stated that over 2,300 meetings had already been held throughout the country to get out the vote and that a large number of senior public officials had been speaking in the provinces on a daily basis. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Report, May 15,2003.
27. The support given by Poland and other East Central European entrants into the EU to the United States-led war against Iraq in early 2003, coupled with French President Jacques Chirac's crude criticisms of their actions, created a new set of ties between Washington and Warsaw, ties that were exploited by President George W. Bush during his state visit to Poland in May. Clearly, an opportunity had arisen for the United States to play a leading role in a divided EU with the support of the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Poland and a number of other new and old members of the organization against Germany and France, the main European opponents of the Iraq invasion. Richard Bernstein, "Poland Upstages, and Irks, European Powerhouses," New York Times, May 13, 2003;
28. Jan Maksymiuk, "Poland as a Global Player," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Report, May 14, 2003;
29. William Safire, "The Bush Polonaise," New York Times, May 15,2003.
30. Gazeta Wyborcza, June 9,2003.
31. This was not the first time Miller's government had been subjected to a vote of no-confidence. In March 2003, 221 deputies had backed the government to 202 supporting its removal.