Dire results of the last week’s European Parliament elections caused dismay and sudden fright across the spectrum of the EU mainstream parties. Their loyal European electorates elevated to power the most Eurosceptic parliament of the Union in its history. Poland was no exception to this trend. But compared to Front National’s 24 MEPs or the same amount of anti-EU individuals coming from Nigel Farage’s UKIP, Polish voters chose to vote in only 4 staunchly Europhobic representatives (out of total 51). Does this mean that Poland proved its ‘European spirit’ to be on par or even stronger then Western European countries? Not quite.

In February 2013 on my blog at Radio TOK FM’s website I wrote — under the title ‘Poland still hasn’t returned to Europe’ about my country’s long-lasting strive for its nearly mystical reunification with Europe (Polish speakers will find the post here). Although prompted by different events, I will now bring back these considerations to illustrate a bigger point — that Poland and her decision-makers are much less concerned about the anti-EU tide than they should be.

Returning to Europe

Back in February last year I recalled that long before the fall of communism it was a dream for many Poles to return to normality. Normality — with that word they associated a desire to move from a grey, backward, grotesque reality of life in the Soviet bloc to a civilized, developed, colourful and vibrant reality of life that they could see shining on the western horizon. Return to normality for eastern Europeans was, as they put it, a desire for the eastern part of Europe to return to its roots.

And long before the fall of communism this idea of “return to Europe” was the driving motto (and a fancy slogan) to each and every cabinet and to each and every respected politician in Poland. It drove their agenda as a set of political goals. Amongst the big ones — the promise of entry into the institutional embodiments of ‘normality’ –the NATO and the EU.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Poland’s first partially-free elections and the dismantling of the communist rule. It also marks 15 years since our accession to NATO. We also celebrate the first decade of Poland’s membership in the European Union.

And regardless of personal level of satisfaction with transformations, the entire nation could see some progress and modernization taking place over the years. Many (but certainly not all) absurdities of everyday life disappeared; Poles can travel freely from Warsaw to Lisbon without showing their passports; thousands are flying to France, the UK or Germany to work and study there. All major studies indicate that Poles are the nation most satisfied and supportive of the EU across the continent. Those old enough among them to remember the distant past would say — ‘indeed, we have truly returned to Europe’. Those young, recently educated, enjoying the wealth and splendour of rising metropolises — they probably didn’t even notice that we were ever ‘out of Europe’.

But back in 2013 I concluded that the revered ‘return to Europe’ is not all about springing luxurious boutiques, flawless highways or the European football championships.

‘Europe’ is a state of mind

Surely, I wasn’t the first one to think this way. In 1990 Adam Michnik published an often-overlooked piece in the New York Times Magazine, where he outlined the true contents of this idea. He did not perceive it as a tangible accomplishment, let alone so narrowly constructed as having a democratic parliament, a free market economy or an open borders policy. For he saw, in returning to Europe, the adoption of certain particular characteristics of European culture. He contrasted previous mentality with

‘a critical distance to oneself and the ability to observe one’s accomplishments through somebody else’s eye; respect for tolerance in public life, […] and the need to confront competing views and mindsets in public discourse’.

Over a year ago I was motivated to touch on this topic after the great debacle surrounding the parliamentary bill aiming to introduce civil unions in Poland (allowing for official recognition of same-sex partnerships — though not marriages). It will suffice for an unfamiliar reader to know that Malcolm Tucker would probably describe the public and parliamentary debate on this issue by his famous ‘omni-shambles’ catchword (and a lot of swearing of course).

This brings me back to the general conclusion I made last year, but which — after having seen the campaign in Poland that preceded the recent European elections — stands even more powerful and accurate than before.

The illusion of normality

I concluded (and today I conclude again) that Polish politics attempted to convince the nation that ‘Poland’s return to Europe’ means modernization of infrastructure, the government that governs (though in a purely administrative fashion), holds some basic consistency in its foreign policy etc. The return to Europe means ‘peace at home’ — it is European not to make any radical political moves, it is European to maintain status quo.

Is that truly so? Poland has a democratic legislature, enjoys a free market economy, constitutional protection of rights and all the necessary formal qualities of a truly European state. But it still lacks in the qualities Adam Michnik thought to matter more than the others. The contemporary political class suffers from a severe atrophy of grand, strategic thinking; putting one’s actions in a broader perspective, looking beyond the horizon of parliamentary terms and elections calendar; and undoubtedly one has to forget about any observable respect for tolerance in public life. Competing viewpoints are not confronted and debated upon — they are crushed and trod into ground by loud and absurd tirades.

Make no mistake: moral conflicts are inherent in the society and will continue to reappear. But the very purpose of electing politicians to positions of authority is to give them means to resolve those conflicts on our behalf. To give them means to ‘do the dirty work’ for us. Not to avoid the issues or decline to debate on them. Ignoring viewpoints, discarding them as insignificant, marginal, absurd or crazy is the way by which the contemporary post-politics sweeps the important issues under the carpet — be it civil unions, retirement age referendums, unemployment, jobs, growth etc.

This leaves me with the final point: the mere 4 seats in the European Parliament that Polish voters decided to give to the New Right party led by veteran bowtie politician Janusz Korwin-Mikke should cause much more painful headaches to Polish decision-makers than the grinning faces of Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen.

The bigger picture, the bigger problem

The rise of anti-EU sentiments in the Western part of Europe seems to originate from the disenchantment of voters with stalling growth and EU’s falling performance in boosting the standard of living. UKIP or FN voters feel ignored, but they feel ignored because the EU hasn’t been performing so spectacularly in recent years in areas where the voters expected the EU to excel. The elder electorates of these parties remember the 1980s, 1990s and the exponential growth, brought about — as promised — by more integrated market and disappearing barriers to economic growth. They remember how it was before.

In contrast, the electorate of Poland’s brand new Eurosceptic celebrities’ team was overwhelmingly young — almost half the support came from electors aged 18-25. Born after the era of communism, some of them can’t probably remember the times before Poland joined the EU.

Although similar, the Europhobic trends in Western Europe and Poland come from two slightly different positions. Some politicians, commentators and thinkers in Poland still subscribe to the optimistic assumption that streams of EU funds, investments or even singular more liberal policies will prove sufficient to overcome the setback suffered last week and quench the anti-EU wave.

One needs to work hard to allow oneself to become an optimist. Poland worked hard to join the institutions of Europe and avoid rejoining Europe itself. And by and large this is the fault of the political discourse, which became alienated and strange — far from embodying the ‘European spirit’ which is, without any doubt, shared by many ordinary citizens.

For now, Poland should realize what the numbers and percentages in electoral tallies do not evidently tell — it potentially faces the biggest threat to its ‘return to Europe’ dream since the last Russian soldier left the Polish soil in 1990s. This time, however, it’s a threat we brought onto ourselves.

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I used Adam Michnik’s essay “Myśli wschodnioeuropejskie” (East European thoughts) published in “Krytyka” (and originally in “New York Times Magazine”). I was inspired by interviews with John Gray and Steven Lukes published in a book by my former professor from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Dr Beata Polanowska-Sygulska (“Oblicza liberalizmu” — “The faces of liberalism”).

This text uses translated parts of the piece which appeared online in Polish in February 2013 on my blog at Radio TOKFM’s website: http://www.tokfm.pl/blogi/poprzeczka/2013/02/polska_wciaz_nie_wrocila_do_europy/1