Chirac’s “badly brought-up” Poles maintain their pro-US stance on war with Iraq

Date: 27/02/03

By David Cronin

As their referendum approaches, Polish feelings on Iraq and the reaction to Jacques Chirac's outburst are pivotal.

THE legacy of tyrants is all too visible. Fear and courage flicker across the faces of men depicted in the Warsaw Ghetto monument, recalling those who fought to protect Europe's largest Jewish community from annihilation by Nazi invaders.

The Palace of Culture and Science stands nearby. Resembling a Soviet version of New York's Chrysler building, this 231-metre "statue to slavery" (as one writer dubbed it) was the largest of eight towers ordered by Josef Stalin.

With the horrors of the twentieth century burrowed into the national psyche, it's understandable that Poles have strong views about confronting despots. So even some of the most erudite thinkers offer an analysis about Saddam Hussein which many of their Western counterparts would deem naïve. "If he's a dictator we must somehow smash him," declares Piotr Nowina-Konopka, vice-rector in Warsaw's College of Europe. "He's too dangerous for Iraq and elsewhere. Perhaps we in Poland are more afraid of dictators than some other nations in Europe."

Last week French President Jacques Chirac argued central and eastern European states were "not brought up well" for siding with the US in the current diplomatic tussle over Baghdad.

But the link between Warsaw and Washington is considered umbilical. Emigration has led to Chicago being described as the country's second city. And there's still a sense of gratitude to President Woodrow Wilson for championing Polish independence as early as 1917; for America's generous efforts to alleviate the hardship brought by Poland's wartime experiences; and to US-funded Radio Free Europe for providing a counterbalance to the censorship with which totalitarianism was synonymous.

One million people have protested in London and 1.5 million in Madrid over their governments' unwavering support for the jingoism of the Bush administration. By contrast, the largest anti-war demonstration in Poland (total population: 39 million) drew a meagre 4,000.

"Poland does not want a war," says Józef Olesky, chairman of the European committee in national parliament, the Sejm. "On the other hand, we feel that the US - which has taken responsibility for dealing with a gangster - should not be left isolated."

Although it's still early days, some supporters of Poland's EU entry are suggesting Chirac's recent diatribe against candidates for EU membership could have an adverse impact on efforts to convince voters to endorse an accession treaty in the referendum expected in June.

The National Union of Farmers represents one half of the countries' two million farmers. Wladyslaw Serafin, its president, believes the complex farm subsidies package won by Prime Minister Leszek Miller at last December's Copenhagen EU summit was generally satisfactory, but says: "If I don't hear words of apology from President Chirac, then I'm not going to go to farmers and try to persuade them to vote "Yes"."

Serafin goes as far as comparing Chirac to the late Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev because of his warning the French parliament may block EU enlargement: "We have somehow seen a Western Brezhnev emerging. We had threats like this from Moscow in the past."

The minister tasked with ensuring the referendum is carried is clearly riled by Chirac's perceived attempt to muzzle what Donald Rumsfeld, US defense secretary, has called the "new Europe". "No one likes people throwing their weight around and telling others what to do," says Lech Nikolski. "If I told my daughter to keep quiet and not express opinions about our family, then she rightly would be very offended."

But Nikolski is hoping the outburst will be little more than a memory by the time the campaign begins in earnest. His referendum team has so far been allocated a budget of €2 million for the vote but the idea of drawing from a reserve of €12 million is being toyed with. Most of the expenditure is due to be on campaign literature, advertising in the media and supporting pro-European lobby groups.

Supporters of EU entry have taken heart from opinion polls indicating "Yes" voters could outnumber the "Nos" by three to one. Just as significantly, they are buoyed by findings that 60% of the electorate intends to participate in the poll.

Under the Polish constitution, a turnout of at least 50% is required for a referendum to be automatically valid. If a "Yes" majority is secured but the 50% threshold proves elusive, then two-thirds of each house of parliament would have to endorse it for the accession treaty to be ratified.

The largest parties in the ruling coalition and opposition are all expected to rally around the "Yes" camp. Ranked against them will be the agrarian Self Defence and the Catholic fundamentalist League of Polish Families. The latter has the benefit of effectively having its own broadcaster Radio Marija. Run by the Redemptorist order, this has been spreading scare stories about the EU's purported tolerance of euthanasia and homosexuality undermining the state's religious identity.

The station is especially influential in the Polish countryside and near its former capital Kraków.

The conference of bishops in this predominantly Catholic country says it has no ties to Radio Marija, indeed, it has gone so far as to ban collections for the station in many chapels. Officially, it supports European integration as a means of overcoming the divisions between East and West. But the bishops won't be telling the faithful which box to tick on their ballot papers.

"We cannot exert pressure," says Father Adam Schulz, a spokesman for the bishops. "We underline the personal dimension; those who vote will have to assume responsibility. They won't be able to pass the burden onto the episcopate or other bodies."

However, individual clergymen are likely to take some role in the campaign. Józef Glemp, the Catholic primate, has been suggesting he wants a "Yes" vote, for example. A newspaper article about him last week carried a headline invoking God's support for the EU.

Even though Poland isn't yet in the EU, its political elite is already deliberating over how it can shape the Union's agenda. Genowefa Grabowska, a member of the future of Europe Convention, points out that after Sweden and Finland joined the EU in the mid-1990s they pushed the so-called "Northern Dimension", which promotes pro-democracy and environment initiatives in Russia. Similarly, Poland plans an "Eastern Dimension" programme, on promoting closer ties between the EU and its prospective new neighbours, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.

"Europe does not end at the EU's borders, nor will it end there after enlargement," says Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the Polish foreign minister.

He supports last year's suggestions by Chris Patten, the EU's external relations commissioner, and Javier Solana, the high representative for foreign policy, on strengthening links with the three countries. According to the minister, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova should be granted "the prospect, not the promise, of EU membership". Eventually accepting them into the Union would be conditional on their meeting criteria about improving respect for democracy and human rights.

The EU currently has regular dialogue with Ukraine, while Patten has been involved in talks about easing ethnic tensions in the Transdniestra region of Moldova. Belarus is another matter, though. All EU states, bar Portugal, slapped sanctions on Minsk during 2002 because of the repressive nature of Alexander Lukashenko's regime; the staunchly anti-Western president has ordered the closure of newspapers that are critical of the regime, and denied opponents the right to freedom of assembly.

Józef Olesky likens Belarus to Ukraine, whose President Leonid Kuchma has also been vilified by the West for alleged bullying of free-thinking journalists. "Kuchma does not have a good image in the US and in other Western countries," says Olesky. "But Poland has not severed its ties with Ukraine; on the contrary, we have strengthened relations with Ukrainian society, even though we understand the reservations towards President Kuchma."

"President Kuchma will go but Ukraine will stay and we want it to stay as a European, democratic society. We can adopt a similar, though slightly modified, approach towards Belarus. I'm not convinced Europe's policy towards Belarus is a proper one.

"The question is: do we want Belarus to be part of Europe or to be part of Russia?"

Major feature. As their referendum approaches, Polish feelings on Iraq and the reaction to Jacques Chirac's outburst are pivotal.