Radoslaw Sikorski: Poland could be better

Radoslaw Sikorski was one of the founders of the Eastern Partnership, a joint policy initiative which aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the EU, its member states and its six eastern neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
“This was the first big political project that Poland persuaded the whole EU to adopt,” he says proudly.
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Former Polish foreign and defence minister Radoslaw Sikorski speaks to Emerging Europe about his new book, the current state of Poland, Brexit and his potential return to politics.
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Polish politics
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“I mean they only won by fluke, by the incompetence of the left in particular who went into the last elections as four different groups, and not a single one passed the parliamentary threshold. I hope they have learned their lessons.”
Much of the support that PiS can count on comes partly from its tough anti-immigration stance, something which Mr Sikorski believes is hypocritical.
“We are a country of migrants, and have been for 300 years,” he says. “Just about every generation has produced a wave of people who were given asylum somewhere else, including me: I was a refugee in the UK. So for our leaders to be using this kind of anti-foreigner sentiment, particularly against people fleeing war in Syria, is unbecoming a Pole. It is un-Polish. In addition to that our church is no longer Catholic, it is a nationalist sect. We have senior clergymen praying for the Pope to die.”

Brexit
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“It’s a national folly,” he says. “It’s the last gasp of English exceptionalism and of English arrogance, because it’s a product of misinformation and lack of understanding of how the EU actually works. I mean the leave campaign targeted the Indian community and the Commonwealth community, which have nothing to do with the EU.”
He does accept, however, that the huge numbers of Poles who went to live and work in the UK after Poland joined the EU did play a role in the outcome of the Brexit vote.
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“I have been saying this for months, that the ruling party [in Poland] is in danger of repeating the British mistake, namely leaving the EU by accident. Attacking the EU to score internal politics comes at a huge cost, as the British government has found out.”
If there is to be any silver lining to Brexit at all it will be that lessons can be learned.
“You play with these nationalist feelings at your peril, for the public may just believe in your propaganda,” says Mr Sikorski.

Eastern Partnership and foreign policy

Sikorski was one of the founders of the Eastern Partnership, a joint policy initiative which aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the EU, its member states and its six eastern neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
“This was the first big political project that Poland persuaded the whole EU to adopt,” he says proudly.
“The EU has already spent billions of euros on the Eastern Partnership, managing borders, investing in infrastructure, providing aid for small businesses, preparing countries for visa-free travel and for the EU free tradezone as well as offering advice with legislation. Thanks to the success of the programme’s first decade, Ukraine will now be more closely integrated with the EU than Britain.”
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"Poland needs to re-establish the EU credentials which have been destroyed by the current government.”
Mr Sikorski could be one of the key individuals driving that process. The main Polish opposition party, Civic Platform, has been discussing the possibility of his return to politics, as a candidate for election to the European Parliament next year. While Mr Sikorski is still toying with the idea, he nevertheless believes that change is certain, and that PiS is on the way out.
“We are going to win,” he says.
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Full interview on Emerging Europe: