REVIEW & OUTLOOK
The Mighty Poles
It's winter for Germany and France.
Modern Poland came of age this spring. Polish troops fought in Iraq, and Warsaw last week agreed to head up peacekeeping operations in northern Iraq, with Britain and the U.S. taking over the two other administrative zones.
Hard to believe, but Poland is now arguably a more consequential global power than either France or Germany. And the angry reactions in Berlin, Brussels and Paris to this news speaks eloquently to the tectonic shift under way in Europe after Iraq. Their diplomats grumbled widely that the Poles were vassals to the U.S., ingrates willing to take European Union subsidies and undermine efforts to build a common European foreign policy. "Mercenaries," a German ambassador on the Continent called them in an interview with us.
Lacking other arguments, France and Germany call the Poles, and the majority of current and future EU countries that backed the U.S. over Iraq, "bad Europeans." This appeal is a new form of euro-chauvinism--in other words, the advocates of a vital trans-Atlantic link (such as Tony Blair and Jose Maria Aznar) are traitors who've made the wrong choice. As European Commission President Romano Prodi lectured Poland last month, "One cannot entrust his purse to Europe and his security to America."
The Poles respond that the choice between Europe and America is a false one. So Warsaw last week invited the Germans to join them in their Iraqi peacekeeping. Berlin rejected the offer, barely able to hide its annoyance. These are tough times for German diplomacy. Until Gerhard Schroder turned anti-American in last year's election, EU enlargement was supposed to have made Germany a player in global and European politics, a voice heard in Brussels and Washington.
Now Germany is marginalized, and its poorer neighbor to the east stands in the limelight. At last week's tripartite summit in Wroclaw, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski was the one standing tall when he hosted the French and German leaders, who've both come out of the Iraqi crisis worse for wear.
Poland's commitment to NATO and close ties with the U.S. are grounded in history and national interest--just as they are in Britain. Each Polish government of the past decade, left or right, has nurtured these ties to stabilize the neighborhood (look at Ukraine) and ensure Polish security. The suave Frenchmen snicker at Poland's love for America. But the Poles learned in the early 19th century, and again in 1939, how seriously to take French promises, and paid for their mistake with decades of oppression both times.
But now isn't the time for insults. Poland offers Europe a true opportunity. The Poles are genuinely worried about the position of Germany and France and want to help mediate between them and America. The Wroclaw meeting was a first step; President Bush visits Krakow later this month, which could be a second.
Poland wants NATO in Iraq, which would go a long way toward revitalizing the Atlantic alliance and mending some fences. And above all, the Poles want to build the future EU around a strategic relationship with America that France and Germany are all too happy to sacrifice at the altar of their imagined "Europe." So who's the "bad" European here?
