€ Modern European HistoryDr. James Palmitessa

Forget London and Paris!Europe has other Cool Cities like Praha and Warszawa

Cover of German weekly Der Spiegel, August 20, 2007

The Czech Republic is a relatively small country• Population : 10.3 million• Area: 77.3 thousand square km.• Capital: Prague (pop. 1.2 million in city limits/1.9 million in metro area,

496 square km.)• GDP Index: 79

(100=EU Average)

How big are the EU countries? Surface area 1 000 km²

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Poland is a relatively large country• Population: 38.2 million• Area: 312.7 1000 thousand square km• Capital: Warsaw (pop. 1.7 million in city limits, 2.8 million in metro area,

516.9 square km)• GDP Index 53

(100=EU Average)

Czechs and Poles speak Slavic languages

Czech• Dobrý den (good day)• Děkuju (Thank you)• Pivo (beer)• Na shledanou (good bye)

Polish• Dzień dobry• Dziekuje• Piwo• Do widzenia

Other Slavic languages are Russian, Ukrainian, Slovenia (spoken in Slovenia) and Serbo-Croatian (spoken in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina)

View of Castle Hill with St. Vitus Cathedral and Prague Castle, Prague

Old Town Square with Mary-on-the-Teyn Church, Prague

Marszałkowska, Warsaw

Stare Miasto (Old City), Warsaw

Some Important Historical Developments over the last few hundred years

Czech Republic• 1620-1918: Bohemian Lands part of

Austrian Empire• 1918: Czechoslovakia created• 1938: Germany annexed

Czechoslovakia as Protectorate• 1945-48: German-speaking

Czechoslovaks expelled• 1948: Communists elected to power• 1967-68: Prague Spring• Nov. 22, 1968: Invasion of

Czechoslovakia by Warsaw-pact troops• 1989: Velvet Revolution• 1993: Czechoslovakia split into Czech

Republic and Slovak Republic• 2004: The Czech Republic and Slovak

Republic joined the European Union

Poland• 1795-1918: Poland occupied by

Prussia, Russia & Austria• 1918: Poland Recreated• Sept. 1, 1939: Germany invaded

Poland setting off Second World War• 1945: communists came to power• 1980: Birth of Solidarity Movement• 1981: Martial Law introduced• 1989/90: Communist rule came to

end• 2004: Poland joined the European

Union

GDP per inhabitant: the spread of wealth

GDP per inhabitants in Purchasing Power Standards, 2007Index where the average of the 27 EU-countries is 100

280

144131 129 127 123 121 118 117 113 113

104 102 10094 89 87

79 77 7567 66 63 58 56 53

38 37

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Joining the European Union has brought new opportunities but also challenges to the Czech Republic and Poland

Cover of Czech weekly magazine Týden --“Should we be afraid of the European Union?”

Interview with Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland

(Der Spiegel, 11/2006)• Mr. President, since your election some people in Germany have been irritated about a new sharp tone coming from Warsaw: that the protection of Poland’s national interests will now be placed in the foreground. Does Poland feel itself as a equal partner in Europe?

• In the West many thought that Poland does not have its own interests anymore and would simply join on to those of others. That is not going to happen. Other European countries represent their own interests with more bitter tones.

• What do you mean?• In France there is the motto “economic patroitism” And

Germany recently signed a pipe-line agreement in the east Baltic, which is against Polish Economics. We are allies of Germany, together in Nato and the EU – why are you building around us?

• …Nations are a historical reality in Europe. They have different histories and joined the EU at different times and under different conditions. During the three years that I was mayor of Warsaw I always supported Poland’s membershp in the EU. But I experienced how we have to apply EU laws which were entirely unsuitable for our position.

• But the European Union must be something other than a bureaucratic … for your land?

• One must keep n mind that states have now joined the union which for many decades did not have sovereignty, did not have their own states, like the Baltic countries. For these countries autonomy is especially important. I should als add the following: the biggest Euro-enthusiasts in our country – though naturally now all of them – are those who were especially deeply connected to the communist regime and didn’t want anything to do with the West. But I belong to those who view the return of Sovereingty in 1989 to be the most important thing in our lives, more important than my election as Polish President.

Interview with Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland

(Der Spiegel, 11/2006)

Interview with Václav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic(Der Spiegel, 11/2006)

• Mr. President, zou are one of the sharpest EU-critics. You consider the Eu to be a orchestrated, bureaucratic formation – in short, for an undemocratic monstrosity. The Czech Republic has now been in the EU for two years. Has your membership harmed your land?

• I never said that. I’ve said that the Czech Republic is an important part of Central Europe and we must participate in European integration. I am sure that the Czech Republic – at that time Czechoslovakia – would have been a founding member of the EU if it wasn’t for the communist putsch of 1948.

• In the discussion about the EU Constitution, you said that you were “afraid of Europe.” The French and Dutch have now turned down that Constitution. Are you satisified about that?

• Unfortunately not. I was only happy in the first few minutes, which the decision was announced. Now I see that we are in a dangerous position agaion. I see how the deepening of the EU cannot go forward without a Constitution, but rather becomes a hidden process of uniformity, and that is more dangerous. It is difficult to put the breaks on this process. Each day we receive new laws, new initiatives, new guidelines from Brussels, which push us in the direction of uniformity.

• Which signal from Brussels disturbs you the most in recent days?

• It does not involve a single decision which is especially dangerous. There are hundreds of proclamations which come to us every day from the EU Headquarters in Brussels. One which is especially troublesome is the talk about a possible tax harmonization in Europe or the liberalization of service industries. I didn’t believe my ears when our own Czech Commissioner…introduced a bill for money from EU funds to be paid to victims of globalization. That is communism in its purest form – like in the days of Breschnew. In those days people were forced in the position of having to read in the newspapers what those on top had decided. I remember very well the feeling of powerlessness.

• Are you criticizing a deficit in democracy, a growing distance between the political elite and the people?

• Yes, above all it revolves around the political dimension of European Integration. That is one of the most important points – that is tied to our history, with our sensibility, even perhaps hypersensibility in this area.

Interview with Václav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic

(Der Spiegel, 11/2006)