My 2010 Green manifesto

I have decided to join the Green movement. It took me 13 years to take this decision. Decision to join a political party. If you are born in a Communist party lead country party does not necessarily mean something good. Now I am ready.

Back in 1997 I have joined the young movement called 'Young democrats' (Mlodzi Democraci) which was a kind of youth assaciation affiliated to one of the key Polish political parties - Union of Freedom (Unia Wolnosci). I went for seminars, discussions, took part in electoral campaigns. But I was too cautious to make a step further and join the party itself. I was afraid of becoming manipulated and wanted to leave the options open. The Polish landscape of 1997 was still very fragile. I remember the discussions about the new Polish constitution and a clever, passionate speech of one of its opponents from the Kaczynski's camp: Ludwik Dorn. I remember the discussions about local government and the meeting with first Polish ambassador to the Czech Republic (...) forgot the name. I remember when I saw the name of Jerzy Buzek on the party list to the Polish Diet. I remember being invited for his expose in Sejm (Polish Diet) on the 10th November of 1997.
And now, 13 years later I decided to join the Belgian Green Francophone Party (ECOLO). These are my reasons:
1. I do believe that despite all their deficiencies political parties have a life in the post-national era of XXI century.
2. I learnt that being an official or diplomat you never enjoy the same freedom as the politicians do.
3. I believe that parties and internal elections are the best testing ground for young leaders and statesmen. I am now ready to take up this challenge. I am no longer afraid of being outmanouvered or ridiculed.
4. I believe the world we know is changing completely which creates a big challenge for the existing social systems in Europe and outside.
5. My generation 30-40 year old needs to get involved to represent a modern way of looking at the world.
6. The Christian Democrats have become part of the European establishment (EPP, Barroso, Juncker) and it will take time before a generation change occurs. Let me be silent on the links with the Catholic church now.
7. The Socialists never really made a right difference between equality and equality of rights. They should go back to the university and read about the incentive structure and engines of growth.
8. The Liberals - individualism is an important part of the European heritage but it will never solve the tragedy of commons. Liberals have been too close to the private business. And the 2008 financial crisis exposed to me the limits of liberal thinking.

Why Belgian ECOLO?
1. This is the only Belgian party which keeps close links (same parliamentary club) with the Flemish counterpart (GROEN).
2. I got fed up with the cars in Brussels and the limited space for bicycles.
3. The noise levels in Brussels are not acceptable. We need a green revolution, electric cars, responsible consumers and not highways bringing egoist navetteurs from the outskirts.
4. I believe in rights for sexual minorities and minorities altogether.
5. Ecolo brings new elements of discussions to the political system.
6. The European Greens are the openly pro-European party which remains critical of the current political establishment.
7. Greens being the new party are not yet overly dependant on the existing balance of interest. They are fresh in politics.
8. I believe within the next 20 years Greens can become a force in Europe of around 20% which will be necessary to govern the countries.
9. They have couple of charismatic leaders: Cohn-Bendit, Joschka Fischer, Trittin, Eva Joly.

Couple of information about the ecological movement in Europe:
1. In 2010 regional elections in France they scored above 16% (almost becoming the second party by vote).
2. They already had 1 Commissioner (German Michele Schreyer - Prodi Commission - 1999-2004)
3. If I remember well, in 2010 elections in UK they managed to secured the first MP seat.
4. In Poland - Zieloni 2004 - problems with emerging on the media scene.

my history as a Polish

Having spent 4 years in Brussels I begin to look at Poland with a mix of nostalgia and criticism. Nostalgia is self-explanatory. I spent the first 30 years of my life predominantly in this country; I come from a family where both parents spoke Polish; I was attending schools and universities in Gliwice and Krakow. So what I am right now is predominantly made in Poland.

On the other hand since the high school times I grew more and more interested in the outside world. Foreign news was the part of newspaper that I started reading at the age of 14. I was always excelling in history and political science: I remember still that Khmer Rouge was a bit like the story of Karol May (Winnetou) or conquistadores. The world back then was really far away.

I was born in a semi-independant state where friendship with Soviet Union was an undisputed principle yet everybody knew that Russia has been the biggest danger for the nation throughout the last 3 hundred years. Poland in the 80ies was a curious mixture of declining economy, strong church and a deligitimes nomenclature regime.

And then, 1988-89-90 history accelerated. I was still too young to really witness these years. In 1991 I joined the highschool. My rebellion against the adults had another layer: the generation of my parents was not ready for the new system... they seemed backwards, not ready to understand the new credo of capitalism. They adapted the best way they could but still for me they seemed not as good as me. Time has shown that I was not right.

Now I think my parents went through something that I would not like to repeat myself. Within one year Poland change the direction of its interest from East to West. Of course the west was always a synonyme of money, cars, success. But this is only thanks to my parents that I started learning English one year before Russian. And English was taken seriously while Russian was rather an obligation. West was always present in our thinking. Parts of my family were scattered in USA, France and Germany. But the graves of my family were located in Lviv (aUkrainian town only since 1945).

What meant Poland for me during the high school years? For this I should look at my diaries. I wanted to outperform my parents: engineers who spent their career in a big heavy industry company. In the 90ies being an engineer was no prove of success: we had thousands of them. The introduction of capitalism meant that the only serious career you could make in economy, banking or law. So having realised that law would mean learning by heart a lot of text I opted for economy studies: it was a good compromise between my mathematic skills, languages and history.

Today, looking backwards, I think I am part of a unique generation. A generation of those who still remember Poland before the Balcerowicz reforms and democratic transformation. I know it is difficult to understand now but Macronomy was a key subject for me because I wanted to understand what inflation really means... I believe with the current economic crisis new generations will flock the economic faculties to try to understand and build a better world system.

I am from a generation of Poles that left their country looking for better life perspectives. But I am also from a generation which learnt that you can be also proud for your 'heimat'. I think that for a long time I was trying to go further than my nationality; go beyond the notion of being a Pole. It was not easy to build your own identity. The Polish messianism, catholicism, shared tragic historical events is a very strong amalgam. It took me years to understand myself, my family, my home town, my country, a bit of Europe, a bit of the world evolving face.

I was lucky to grown in the optimism of the nineties. For my part of Europe the period between 1989 and 2009 will be depicted as golden years. This was a time of economic, mental and political opening. I still hope that the world will move forward and push the opening even further. But the current crisis will also show that human nature has many bleak sides. I hope that Europa will become a synonyme of post-national polity which respects the identities of the people that form it. And I hope that Poles will learn the lesson from the last 3 centuries which was a period of political decline and dependance. And I hope that our bet on political Europe will show that it was a wise, forward looking choice.

Balkans - 2010

I read a couple days ago that Balkan states launch 'mini-Schengen'. Euobserver.com revealed that
'Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo have created a passport-free zone, called a "mini-Schengen" by Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu, in order to show their readines to join the EU's borderless, so-called Schengen area. Macedonia and Montenegro began EU visa-free travel last year'.

I think from Brussels perspectives Balkans are still far away. 2010 was a year of eurozone crisis and Greece was high on the agenda. So we tend to overlook what is happening in the former Ottoman empire. You ask why I bring back this old history? Let me just remind you that until the Congress of Vienna in 1815 most of Balkans including Greece were under the rule of Ottomans (if I read the maps correctly Montenegro stayed independant). Currently in Balkans we have several small states like the ones that joined the passport-free zone which are in the shadow of a somewhat bigger Serbia. And 15 years after the Dayton agreement we have an unresolved issue of Bosnia and Herzegovina...

The elephant in the room is the potential for creating a bigger Albanian state: joining Albania, Kosovo and parts of Macedonia. But I am really not an expert on this so maybe I go back to watch the Flemish national movement and see what comes out in my neighbourhood.

The independance of Flanders

Like with the financial crisis people will say that nobody had seen it coming. And then you find some guys who actually did and they become famous, get invited to newspapers and become celebrities. That is my goal too :) but let's go back to the facts and my reading of them:

Nationalism is an ideology which puts the nation as the most important psychological link to the world. Nationalism is a religion born probably during the French Revolution. Nationalism is a modern religion which has spread across Europe during the last 200 years.

Nationalism is not over despite what many would like to hear. Just look at Yugoslavia where nations led by charismatic leaders became the dominant political forces. Yugoslavia broke into pieces, even Kosovo is now a quasi independant state. The unfinished business is Bosnia and Hercegovina where different communities have been mixed for centuries. But the current international rule of BiH is unsustainable and most commentators agree to it. But joining the Union one day might be a good incentive to reduce the tentions - only if the political leaders would gain more from joining than becoming independant (Republika Srpska).

Flemish nationalism is a force which is growing in force since the collapse of the Flamse Union. Flemish Christian democrates have incorporated the nationalist agenda into their programme thus giving the nationalistic claims the status of legitimate argumentation.

CD&V (the party of Leterme, van Rompuy, Jean-Luc Dehaene) has lost their bet of reforming the Belgian state: splitting the BHV electoral district, breaking up the solidarity between Flanders and the rest (Wallonie, German communities and Brussels). Bart de Wever, leader of NVA- New Flamish Alliance, is the winner of the three-year-long political stalemate since the elections in 2007.

The Wallonia and Brussels have turned to Socialists to defend their claims for social justice. The Francophone claim that if solidarity between north and south is broken, it will be the end of the state. Their main argument is that in the first half of XX century it was the Wallonia which financed the developement of the poorer north.

The social security systems do not have to be homogenous in federal polities. Given the difference of income and living costs many economist would agree that different systems would actually provide a more accurate solution (let's say based on the Purchasing Power etc.). I will not go into the details but I have no problems saying that an unemployed in a richer region should get 500 euros per month while in the poorer 450 would be enough.

The current social security system in Belgium is ridiculous and does not provide enough incentives to look for a job. The taxation of work is so high that it can dissuade people from moving from the social security to the labour market. I believe it kills enterprenership too and is part of the problem in Wallonia and Brussels. It has also a perverse effect of bringing to Belgium immigrants who are seeking to acquire the rights to social benefits (but there are also historical reasons for immigration so let's not put this as the only reason).

So what is happening? Flamings want to have a German style efficient and functioning state. The Wallons are for them the lazy rent-seekers who live on the Flemish work. Does it bring to your mind the pictures of cruel capitalists exploiting the worker class? So the Flemish nationalism has a hidden anti-exploitation Marxist ideology.

The only elements that keep the country together is Brussels and its important political and economic status. The Brussels metropolitan area (essentially the Brabant walloon and flemish with the Capital region) is a economic motor of Belgium. Additionally Brussels is perceived by Flemish as a Flemish capital - mainly for linguistic history of the town.... yes, it used to be Flemish speaking.

Now the majority of people in Brussels capital region speak French, English, Arabic, Flemish (in this order). So the Flamings cherish the sentiment of lost heartland (like the Kosovo Pole for the Serbs or Lvov and Vilnius for Poles). Flemish have a minority status in Brussels which gives them over-representation in the regional government. They try to reconquer the lost land by supporting the Flemish revival (culture, schools etc.). This policy is partly successful but given the internationalisation of the town the progress will be slow. Flemish as a language is fighting to remain at the level of 20% (population knowing it, not necessarily using it in their daily lives).

So the question is if Bart de Wever will take a patient approach of Mr Van Rompuy who tried to build compromise and satisfy the Flemish claims. It is unlikely. These completely different political personae. So the risk is that finally NVA will take over the leadership of Flanders region and give up the claims for Brussels. If Paris is worth the mess, then for nationalists independant Flanders is worth losing Brussels. Or this is too high a price? This is the question.

So what is the possible scenario? NVA will try to limit the remit of the federal government and given the opposition of Francophone will be forced to push through solutions hostile to the Francophone in the federal parliament. Despite their majority it will take a lot of time because the Constitution has many in-built brakes. But it will only slow down the process, not stop it. The Francophone pushed against the wall will either renegate on their support to the Francophone minority living in the municipalities surrounding Brussels region or block the government.

After some time, with the finances of the country deteriorating, the Flemings will escape from the sinking ship leaving Brussels behind. We should not exclude violent clashes for the communes which are essentially francophone but are located in the Flamish region (Rhode-St Genese, Kraineem, Wezembeek-Oppen etc.)
At the end Brussels with Wallonia will become the new Belgium. It will be a buncrupt state so sooner or later they might ask for a protective hand from Paris. And if at this moment France is ruled by a Socialist president, the temptation to increase the political clout over a reunified French might outweight the cost of the bailout. And this way Brussels might one day find itself in Gaullist/Mitterandist hands.
Or Germans, Brits and others will claim an independant status of the capital of Europe. And in 2014 - the 100th commemoration of Sarajevo debacle Europe will be ruled from Brussels CE (Capital of Europe).

This narrative is a political fiction for now. But let's see what the future brings us. Watch carefully because it is no longer a Belgo- Belgian feud. It really is about the heart of Europe (in geographical and philosophical meaning).

Danish Design

If anybody is looking for ideas how to improve the world we live he should go to Copenhagen to the Danish Design Centre. It is impressive and I mean it. I spent 3 hours in altogether 4 rooms watching films, listening to interviews and discovering what it means to design our environment and tools in a way which is pleasant, intuitive and useful.
The concept of design is not as easy as it seems. It is about research what the users need, it is about planning and implementation. You can go to the website to see how the concept is explored by the Scandinavians!
And even more, the Danes are crazy enough to implement this concept. You can see it in the trams that circulate in the town.
Europe has plenty things to discover... you just need to leave Brussels for a weekend :)

On Turkey

We have recently forgotten that Turkey has not only a Muslem but also a secular political force. Maybe the struggle of the Kemalist party to survive should be more a barometer of the future of Islamic states. Please read for details The Economist.

Turkey revisited

One more interesting article about Turkey; this time in the context of NATO. My personal and strictly personal view is beginning to firm up.

1. If we looked backwards at the history of European culture, Christian links and the affinity between nations Turkey with its Islamic majority, link to Middle East and difference in points of reference should be left outside the EU.
2. But if we look at the future challenges; the question of transgressing the existing borders between former enemies (Franco-German entente etc.), build bridges between religions, confirm that people should not be discriminated based on their ethnicity or religion; and that Europe cannot achieve much without the support of Turkish authorities and legitimacy in the Muslem world; if we look at Europe as a global concept which aims at transforming the world; then Turkey cannot be excluded on the basis of any arguments about Islam, historical hostility etc.

Actually the only argument which speaks to my mind is the size of European Parliament and Commission with Turkey represented. But I am sure this question was on the table even before the ex-Soviet block countries knocked at the door.
Will Turkey ever join the EU. I think that this is possible but nothing is decided yet. If you wander how many years can be a candidate country look at Norway. Leadership, patience and the incremental approach should be the key features of the European authorities.