On June 8, 2003, Poland voted to join the European Union. A year later they became one of the ten new member states of the Union.
It is a family story. A story of a marriage, an alliance made of faith, a story of destiny crossed. It is a complicated story, made up of things left unsaid and misunderstandings. A stormy relationship where everyone needs each other, but everyone expects something from the other that they don’t have.
The return of former Eastern bloc countries to Europe was a horizon for the Union and Poland. Horizon of Peace, Democracy and Market Economy. 20 years later, what does Poland and Western Europe have in Europe’s dreams today? Where was this relationship marred by so many disagreements?
The Cold War that Western Europe thought was over is back. Poland’s position in the Union has changed. In the front line against Russia, the country occupies a central position. Not only at the geographical level but also at the political level. So we said to ourselves that it is necessary to go back to the process that led to the entry of Poland and 9 states into the Union in 2004. A process that seemed obvious at the time, but not self-evident.
The increasingly serious conflicts between the Commission and the Visegrad group and the Eastern countries on the path of liberalism often lead to a misunderstanding between the West and the East about law, democracy, and the fundamental values of Europe. So we must take time to retrace the path traveled together to gauge the origins of these misunderstandings.
In this podcast: Oliver Henrion, RTPF journalist. Dorota Bawolek, Belgian-Polish journalist.
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