Marek Siwiec, Poland’s MEP, has been working for the EU legislature for a second time, and thus has a fairly good idea of what is going on at the top levels of the European community. At the same time he keeps coming to Ukraine, trying to support our country on its way towards European integration. Siwiec often writes for The Day’s column, View from Brussels. He kindly agreed to comment on the events currently under way in Europe, as well as on the Russian prime minister’s most recent political project.
The first question concerns you as a Polish representative in Brussels. You obviously follow what is happening in Europe in general: your crisis, Greece, sovereignty, etc. Don’t you see any danger that you can dissolve, as many papers predict? Is there a danger of the decline of Europe, etc.? What is your opinion? How can Europe get out of this crisis?
“First of all, this is a serious crisis, it’s much more financial than political. Europe has had a good experience of getting out of political crises, but with economy this is not so easy. So the basic answer is that to confront this crisis we need more solidarity, more cooperation, but also more responsibility from member states. And this is what we have adopted recently, a six-pack set of legislation which shows the way of thinking that we have now. It shows more coordination, more cooperation. more solidarity, so we can get out of the crisis.”
But don’t you think that Brussels should propose some economic government, or economic governance, as I spoke with the ex-chancellor of Austria, Wolfgang Schuessel and he made distinctions that economic gouvernement in French means one thing and economic governance in English means another and in German it’s steuerung or something like that. What do you think about whether there should be created some body or center which would survey the economic or financial situation?
“There was a motion to create an economic structure inside the Council, and this idea was presented by France and Germany. But an alternative solution is to respect the position of the European Commission, which is the economic government for all of the European Union. And I think that the declaration of Mr. Barroso from Strasbourg on the state of the Union was very clear: we don’t need new institutions, we need more power to the existing institutions. So, saying that, I believe in the intergity of the Union, on the one hand, but on the other, we are not slowing down the weak countries, we are not slowing down the ones who want to go ahead, so there must be a compromise on that.”
Brussels is following the situation in Russia, and it’s clear that Putin will for sure get the third presidency, and maybe the fourth. How is it accepted, and can Putin’s coming back to the official power in some way affect the relations between Russia, Europe, and Poland?
“We have to separate two areas: the first is the internal will and the internal decision of the Russian elites and how they want to manage the country. So honestly speaking, Putin is not the person who is creating any threats or any problems. He’s very well-known with his good sides and bad sides. But the other thing, which is very fundamental, is the way how the Russians treat democracy, even such limited democracy as they had before. And honestly speaking, we, I mean Europe, think the way Mr. Medvedev was elected was perhaps not admirable, but it was a certain step forward to change the elite in the Kremlin. But now it means it was just a gesture or a puppet theater and they are coming back to one man dictator and with all the consequences.”
And to continue with this topic, Putin – you may have read or heard about his article in Izvestiya about the Euro-Asian Union. What do you think of this idea?
“I haven’t read this article, I still have to read it, but the very name, the Euro-Asian Union, is something that sounds extremely artificial. At this moment we are having problems with the Euro Union, and this is our main problem.”
There’s a proposition in this article to the effect that all the countries of the former Soviet Union are invited, not forced, but invited to join this Euro-Asian Union which would be based on the Customs Union and this [Common Economic. – Ed.] Space, so those invited to the Euro-Asian Union may integrate into the European Union from a stronger position.
“I didn’t read the article but if I see the position of Russia vis-a-vis the European Neighbourhood Policy. This is what we’re doing in the framework of Neighbourhood East. So I don’t see very positive approach from the Russian side so at this moment I don’t see any substance of such proposal. All this sounds nice but it’s totally empty.”
And what can you say about the position of some European countries towards Russia? Because we know that usually, while signing declarations etc., the EU has a common policy, but some countries do not pursue this common policy towards Russia. How do you think this can be changed? Can the European Parliament influence it in some way?
“We are trying to build European foreign policy and European common policy vis-a-vis Russia. It takes time, because that was the area which was very restricted for the national policy, especially with Great Britain, France, and Germany. I think that will be the area where we are building a common approach like energy. But all that is not the final kind of approach. I think we are on a good track, but in my opinion the process is a little bit too slow and I see a lot of place for the parliament.”
My last question concerns your opinion of the Eastern partners of the summit. Can the European leadership be influenced in some way, will it listen to the concerns voiced by Donald Tusk, Herman Van Rompuy, and Jose Barroso concerning Ukraine’s authorities dealing with the opposition leaders?
“For me, the final impression of this summit is that it was a sufficient plus. The important things which we wanted to have were partly expressed. So, for example, Ukraine is mentioned as a leader in the visa-free road map perspective in Article 8. Besides, there is (although very poor, but still) an idea that European aspirations of the countries are recognized, which is not enough but still it is something. But the most crucial is Article 29, which creates the monitoring system of the implementation, and gives a list of instruments and objectives which the partner countries would like to implement in the next two years, so it means that the rule “more for more and less for less” starts to be efficient, and the monitoring system will be established with our partner countries. So in this Article 29 I see a space for very active cooperation.”
