Warsaw celebrates by pausing to reflect

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, is greeted by Poland's Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, right on the start of Merkel's two-day visit expected to mend strained ties between Poland and Germany

Poland is intimately acquainted with the challenges of integration and enlargement. It was part of that big bang of new members admitted three years ago. For Poland, then, the anniversary of the Treaty of Rome is first and foremost an opportunity for reflection. Given Poland’s past, this means remembering the decades this nation was unable to participate in the process of European integration.

In a resolution to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the Polish Parliament describes European integration as the best guarantor of the continent’s peace, security and prosperity. It also says that it was only after the the victory of Solidarity and the collapse of communism that Poles could contribute to the integration process. Many Polish analysts stress that the anniversary should be marked not only by praising past achievements, but also by recalling the dark chapters of Europe’s recent history, notably communism. The so-called historic memory of Europe, they say, should include the plight of the countries which remained for many years under the Soviet domination. Jacek Kucharczyk of the Institute of Public Affairs in Warsaw.

Szymon Skrzypczak, Art student from Poland, is the author of logo for the EU's 50th Anniversary

"This is very important because the division into old and new members is still persisting. It’s partly based obviously on different levels of economic development but also on the assumption that the countries that were there from the start have a greater wisdom and should have more to say about European future. That’s a wrong position. We should insist that we are all equal partners now in the European Union and that our historical experience should be equally taken into consideration".

According to Jacek Kucharczyk, this has also important present-day implications:

"The EU should understand that Polish misgivings about the directions that Russia is taking now are not a product of Polish ‘Russophobia’ but legitimate concerns stemming from our historical experience."

Poland has certain reservations about the wording of the Berlin Declaration. It has long insisted for instance on references to Christianity to be included in the document. But according to Konrad Schuller, the Warsaw correspondent of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Poland has gained a number of points in the Declaration.

Plate on the pavement of central square in Krakow, marking Poland's accesion to EU

"It has gained a reference to the openness of the European project, a reference to the principle of European solidarity which can mean economic solidarity but also solidarity in the sense of security. It has gained a reference to the contribution of Eastern European states to the reunification of the continent which is important because Poland has always been fearing that it might be treated as a sort of lesser cousin in the European Union. Now there’s an open reference to Poland’s and other countries’ contribution. This upgrades the status of the new members."

During the recent Polish German summit, president Lech Kaczynski agreed that the existing text of the constitutional treaty can serve as a basis for future debate. This is a significant change of his previous position which boiled down to: the treaty should be written from scratch. Most observers of the Polish scene claim however that Poland will spare no effort in opposing the voting system proposed in the current draft, a system that would dilute the influence of small and medium-sized countries such as Poland in the European Union.