Poland’s solidarity message to Europe

Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, says in a Financial Times interview: “The most important task is to rebuild trust and faith in the idea that Europe makes sense – that the EU is truly a worthwhile invention.” Mr Tusk is right. The Greek debt crisis has not been handled in a way to preserve awareness of common interests. Europe’s threadbare solidarity is also visible in the backlash against the Schengen treaty and enlargement fatigue in the Balkans – both problems that Mr Tusk vows to remedy.

Not that Poland does not stand up for its national interests. Its tenacity in fighting against stricter carbon emissions cuts (Poland is largely coal-powered), or for the EU spending from which it handsomely benefits, is second to none. And Warsaw is unafraid to go its own way: unlike Berlin, it has not let the Fukushima nuclear disaster knock it off a pro-nuclear course.

The EU’s sixth largest country is at long last punching its weight as a regional power. It was the bloc’s only economy to grow throughout the crisis. That Poland has built better relations with Germany and Russia than at any time in history makes the country pivotal for EU policy towards Moscow. But Poland shows that national assertiveness is compatible with European unity.

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