Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz recalled that Ukraine's road to the European Union cannot bypass the historical account. There is besides agriculture, regulation of law and corruption in the background. Poland should be clear: support against Russia yes, political amnesia towards Volyn does not.
Signal from Warsaw
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz returned to the issue of Ukraine's future membership of the European Union in an interview with Virtual Poland. As reported by Kresy.pl, the politician pointed out that Kiev could not number on entering the community if it would build a state symbolism around Stepan Bandera. He besides cited the example of Croatia and the cessations as a informing against accepting a akin cult.
This conviction should sound strong in Poland, due to the fact that it concerns not only history. It concerns respect for the Polish state. Ukraine is attacked by Russia and has the right to defend itself. Poland was right to support this resistance. But no support means giving up your own memory, your own marketplace and your own political conditions.
Kosiniak-Kamish besides spoke about agriculture, the regulation of law and corruption. These are not method footnotes to the large geopolitics. For Polish farmers, entrepreneurs and taxpayers these are very circumstantial issues. The integration of a country with a different scale of agricultural production, the war economy and organization problems could mean force on prices, subsidies and marketplace security.
Memory not negotiable
Volyn is not a bargaining chip to hide in a drawer. It is simply a wound in Polish memory, but besides a test of the seriousness of the state. Victims have the right to graves, household to the truth, and Poland to commemorate its citizens murdered by Ukrainian nationalists.
Over the years, we've heard that we gotta wait, talk quiet, not annoy Kiev. specified a policy always ends the same: the Polish side gives way and the problem returns stronger. National realism is about something else. Partnership with Ukraine must be based on clear conditions, due to the fact that only then can it be sustainable.
There is no place for hostility to the Ukrainians as humans. On the another hand, there is simply a place to measure the cult of formations and characters, which in Polish past associate with crime. The Polish state cannot pretend not to see it, due to the fact that it fits the temper in Brussels.
Poland must have its own list of conditions
If the European Union treats Ukraine's accession as an upfront project, beyond the costs borne by national states, Poland should hold veto law and usage it without complexes. The conditions must be clear: exhumations and commemorative of victims, a real fight against corruption, fair rules for agriculture, sustainable legal standards and guarantees for the Polish market.
Brussels likes to talk about values. Good. Historical fact is besides a value. The value is the loyalty of the state to its own citizens. The value is to defend the farmer and the payer against the consequences of decisions taken in cabinets far from the Polish village.
Kosiniak-Kamisha's words are crucial due to the fact that they shift the debate from emotional solidarity to a policy of conditions. This is how Poland should work. aid where the safety of the region requires it and require it where memory, sovereignty and the portfolio of its own citizens are concerned.
