In a sign of the times around Europe, economic benefits of EU membership have yielded to more earnest discussions about security
May 1st 2004: Czech PM Vladimir Spidla, German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Polish PM Leszek Miller and EU enlargement commissioner Guenther Verheugen hoist the European flag, in the German town of Zittau marking the entrance of 10 countries into the European Union.
Joining them were two of the politicians responsible: Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Joschka Fischer, foreign ministers in 2004. Their handshake on the Polish-German bridge was about more than the EU: it ended centuries of on-off hostilities and completed a historic transformation of Europe that began with the 1980 worker strikes in the Gdansk shipyards.
The new poll by Poland’s state CBOS agency shows EU support split along party lines: above 90 per cent for supporters of the ruling coalition and 64 per cent among voters of the more Eurosceptic Law and Justice party, now in opposition. A Pekao bank study says Poland’s real GDP — economic output adjusted for price changes — doubled in the last two decades, more than any of the other new arrivals.
In a sign of the times around Europe, however, the economic benefits of EU membership — previously front and centre in such anniversaries — have yielded to more earnest discussions about European security. “Today’s security situation confirms that membership of the European Union ensures the survival of our country and helps us to protect our democracy,” she said.
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