Since Poland joined the EU in May 2004, it has assumed the role of the leader of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It fought for human rights and democracy, incl. in Ukraine or Georgia. However, today Poland's place in this role has been taken by three other countries – Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as believes Judy Dempsey from Carnegie Europe, the European wing of one of the most influential American think tanks.

According to Dempsey, today the Baltic states are doing what Poland is doing with increasing difficulty. 

"Since 2015, the reputation and credibility of Warsaw have been weakened," the author of Carnegie Europe said.

All because we weaken the judiciary and checks and balances in our country.

Therefore, it is now the Baltic states that have actively supported the peaceful protests in Belarus, which called on President Alexander Lukashenka to resign as president. It was also them who supported the recent demonstrations in Russia calling for the release of Alexei Navalny.

Returning to the struggle for human rights and democracy, today the Baltic states and Poland want the EU to exert more pressure on Russia, which does not change much for the better in its internal and foreign policy. An ideal blow to Moscow would be to stop the construction of NS2. Dempsey believes, however, that this would be a gamechanger that will not happen because Germany will not decide to take such a step.

(300sekund)