Taking center stage
The country is enjoying its moment in the limelight of international affairs. As if standing up to Germany and France by supporting the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq wasn't enough, President Aleksander Kwaś-niewski's recent meeting in Wrocław with German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French President Jacques Chirac seemed to indicate that Poland sees itself as a mediator in trying to mend the broken fence between the U.S. and the two large European Union countries that opposed American involvement in Iraq.
Meanwhile, defense minister Jerzy Szmajdziński tried to tidy things up on the other side of the Atlantic in Washington by inviting the Germans to participate with Poland in the peacekeeping mission in its assigned post-conflict zone in northern Iraq - an offer that was immediately rejected by an insulted Germany. Though he was rebuffed, Szmajdziński's comment that the country was taking a "leading role" in the Iraq zone kept the spotlight focused on Poland.
President George W. Bush's visit to Kraków later this month will again highlight the special relationship between the U.S. and Poland and draw attention to the country's current prominence in world affairs.
But while some view these events as acknowledgements of the country's growing role in continental politics over the Iraq war, more seasoned political observers see them as warnings to Poland by Germany and France that they still dictate continental power plays. (Let's not forget the all too recent disparaging comments made by politicians from France and Germany - Chirac's reference to central European leaders as being "badly brought up" and the remark by a German diplomat that Poles were "mercenaries.")
Although the country's will to assert itself in the international arena and its ability to challenge the two most powerful EU members are long overdue, its 15 minutes in the spotlight have already ended. The continental and transatlantic divides over Iraq will mend themselves in time with or without Poland's intervention. Italy, which will assume the EU's rotating presidency in July, has made it known that it intends to focus on healing the divisions over Iraq as its top foreign affairs priority.
Moreover, problems on Poland's domestic front will continue to prevail and take precedence over its role on the world stage. The country will continue to be threatened by the constant black clouds of a nearly 19% unemployment rate, a vastly unpopular government, political scandals, economic deterioration and disparities between the income levels and standards of living of those in the largest cities versus rural communities; and that's not to mention the country's need to hurry up with putting the final touches on meeting EU requirements before its expected accession next year.
While Poland has opted for a strategic relationship with the U.S., the country needs to remember where it is on the map. Being chummy with the U.S. is all well and good, but its economic interests lie with its immediate neighbors. Had Poland been entering the EU as a confident country with a thriving economy, Germany and France would have perceived its siding with the U.S. as more appropriate.
