European Integration
The course of the public debate on the subject of Poland's membership
in European Union as well as the lack of the doctrine of Poland's
integration with EU in the policies of the Polish government reveal
a deep crisis of Polish political thought and Polish foreign policy.
The crisis will not be overcome without a serious public debate. A
strong state needs to be based on political doctrine rooted in political
thought. Without philosophical and politico-theoretical approach to
the surrounding reality in its present social and political shape
we will not be able to define our national interests and objectives,
and find the ways to achieve them. Political philosophy and political
theory can not be merely abstract, set apart from the real world.
The lack of realism is characteristic of discussions on European integration.
As a result Poland does not have a clearly defined notion of how its
membership in European Union may be help the long-term realisation
of the Polish national interest. The discussions on Poland's membership
in European Union that have been led for the last several years lack
clear and unequivocal language. Many times in public debates the same
terms acquire a totally different meaning which hinders a rational
exchange of arguments or working out by Polish political elite a common
stand in matters that are crucial in the process of Poland's integration
with European Union. We hope that works that have been undertaken
as a part of the program European Integration will help to
change the course of discussion on Poland's integration with European
Union and to work out a cohesive Polish doctrine of integration.
The program European Integration has been started with a conference
The idea of Europe (June 1998). The first stage of realisation
of the project is recapitulated in the book Does Poland have its
own doctrine of integration with Europe? (December 1998), containing
the lectures that were delivered on the conference The Idea of
Europe and the texts written by CPT experts. The subjects raised
during the conference were continued in the workshops and in discussions
with the leading specialists on the problems of European integration
as participants (e.g., the discussion The controversy of the direction
of changes in United Europe. Does Poland have its own stand? with
the participation of minister Jan Kulakowski and professor Jacek Saryusz-Wolski,
Cracow, April 1999) as well as in the works of CPT experts.
As a part of the program European Integration the educational
activities have been started. In the spring semester of the academic
year 1998/1999 in Pontifical Academy of Theology (PAT) the CPT ran
a course on the European integration. It included lectures and discussions.
Mostly PAT students frequented the course. It presented to the participants
the full picture and the complex character of European integration
process and its consequences for the Polish politics in the nearest
decade. The pronouncements delivered during the course as well as
additionally ordered texts will be published as the contents of a
textbook on European integration for the participants of the course
in the years to come, and for all who are interested in the problems
of European integration. The Adenauer Foundation supported financially
the first edition of the course.