Ambassador of Poland Przemyslaw Grudzinski Back in the Embrace of Europe by John Shaw Przemyslaw Grudzinski, Polandís ambassador to the United States, says his nation has traveled in the blink of a historical eye from a victim of events to an architect of an expanding and unifying Europe. The ambassador says that if the current schedule holds and events cooperate, Polandís remarkable transformation will be celebrated on Dec. 13 when it is formally invited to the join the European Union (EU). That date, the ambassador notes, also marks the 21st anniversary of the imposition of martial law in Poland by Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the former prime minister who, in concert with the Soviet Union, had thousands of Solidarity members arrested during the two-year reign of martial law. ìIf everything works out, the date of Dec. 13, 1981, will be erased from our memory by a very hopeful, joyous moment as we formally join Europe,î the ambassador said in an interview at the Polish Embassy. As a historian, Grudzinski has a profound sense of the difficult journey his long-suffering nation has traveled over the centuries. And as a former activist in the Solidarity movement, he was a participant in the stunning developments that led to the collapse of communism in 1989, the election of Lech Walesa as president in 1990, and Polandís rapid progress over the ensuing decade. ìIt has been an unprecedented period of change. In historic terms, the last 12 years were years of unprecedented peace, prosperity and progress,î he says. Grudzinski says Poland owes a huge debt to the Solidarity movement for ending communism and laying the foundation for democratic institutions. ìCompared to the last 200 years, you can see the collapse of communism in 1989 as a watershed event that created an entirely new situation in Poland. Solidarity crashed the old regime and tried to build a new society. In the second function, it was much less successful. But even if Solidarity failed as a structure, it generated the ideas that still govern,î he says. ìThe greatest achievement of Solidarity is that its basic ideasódemocracy, free-market economics, liberal society, new foreign policy conceptsóhave been inherited by the political elite in Poland. I canít see any greater success than that. Its ideas continue to grow and mature, and help Poland grow and mature as a democratic society,î he says. Recalling the events of the last decade, Grudzinski argues that a great deal has been accomplished. He says Polandís efforts to join NATO and the EU have been critical to building domestic support for sweeping political and economic changes. ìThey gave us a sense of purpose and mission. They disciplined us,î he says. Poland was admitted into NATO in 1999 as part of the first phase of expansion that also included Hungary and the Czech Republic. Grudzinski says Poland has long supported further NATO expansion for other Eastern and Central European nations and believes this step will be taken at a NATO summit in Prague this November. ìOne of our great plans after 1989 was to reorganize our neighborhood, to create a totally new Central Europe and Eastern Europe. For Poland, reorganizing Central Europe was a priority from the very beginning. The crucial test was to overcome the poisonous legacy of history and create a completely new political climate of friendship and cooperation,î Grudzinski says. The 19-nation alliance is reviewing the applications of nine countries and is believed to be seriously considering the candidacies of Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and possibly Bulgaria and Romania. ìNATO enlargement is all but a fait acompli. Now itís in the hands of the aspirant countries not to derail the process for internal reasons. The ground has been prepared. The U.S. has assumed the leadership of the process while Poland is probably the strongest European advocate,î he says. The ambassador argues that NATO must remain at its core a defensive military organization and not become an amorphous political club. ìIt is important to ensure that NATO as an institution remains relevant and strong. It must match new capabilities with a new sense of purpose. We canít allow an enlarged NATO to be less significant than the NATO we now know. I think enlargement will only help NATO. It will bring new energetic members to NATO,î Grudzinski says. ìNATO must adapt, to swim with the tides of events but also to control these events, to master the situation after Sept. 11,î he adds. Grudzinski says Poland is negotiating aggressively with the European Union and hopes to conclude talks in the coming months. Polandís accession negotiations with the EU began in 1998. The negotiations have not been easy, he says, noting that Poland is the largest of about a dozen candidates the 15-nation EU is considering and represents about half the economic size of all the other candidate nations combined. EU accession talks begin with a screening process to determine to what extent a nation meets the EUís 80,000 pages of rules and regulations. The ensuing negotiations focus on the 31 chapters of EU rules and regulations that nations must adhere to if they join the community. In addition, drafting accession treaties to various councils and the European Parliament and having the member states and each candidate country ratify them is a painstaking process that can take two years. ìIt is not easy to bring such a big country as Poland into the European Union. Poland presents some difficult problems for the EUóPolish agriculture and the questions of finances, for example,î Grudzinski says. Agriculture has been one of the main stumbling blocks in the negotiations. Polandís farmers, who represent about one-third of the nationís citizens, have been the most vocal group expressing skepticism about Polish membership in the EU. Fears of foreigners buying up land, and competition from all corners of Europe transforming their traditional way of life still weigh heavily on many farmersí minds. Some conservative Catholics have said they too are concerned about joining the EU, saying it would result in a destabilizing flow of secular ideas, and libertarians fear that Poland would be swamped by additional bureaucratic regulations and a crushing tax burden. ìFor some of our Central European neighbors, such as Germany, itís very difficult to imagine EU enlargement without Poland. But we donít view it as a certainty. We still need to do so much. We must be very energetic. We are at a decisive stage in our negotiations,î Grudzinski says. ìStep by step we are moving to the ultimate resolution for EU membership.î It is still up to Poland to ensure that its negotiators in the European Committee complete their work within the given timeframe and that the Sejm, the Polish Parliament, does not hold up passage of the laws necessary for EU integration. If all goes well and Poland does get an invitation in December, the matter will be considered by the Polish people in a referendum next year. Both Prime Minister Leszek Miller and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski support Polish membership in the EU, as does the Catholic Church. In fact, for Miller, the stakes are quite highónot long ago he announced that if EU integration was not achieved, his government would resign. The ambassador acknowledges that the government must still persuade a skeptical Polish public about the wisdom of joining the EU. Polls show that although more than half of the Polish public now backs EU membership, there is a pervasive wariness that the nationís traditional pattern of life would be fundamentally alteredóand not necessarily for the betteróby entering the EU. ìIn Poland we need to have a very hard discussion about the pluses and minuses of EU enlargement. This will be very different from the enlargements of the past. The EU will be much less generous than it was to newcomers in the past. Most of the work we will have to do ourselves, but this is only proper,î Grudzinski says. In addition, he acknowledges that Poland has been passing through a very difficult economic period, with unemployment hovering just below 20 percent and discontent expressed by various segments of the population. And some analysts believe Polandís economic woes will get worse before they get better, predicting a significant period of sluggish growth over the next few years. ìAfter 12 years of rapid economic growth, we see a lot of social problems and unemployment, and many people take a more pessimistic view. Not everyone benefited from change. Many people are frustrated that the free market didnít do more to help their circumstances,î he says. That type of frustration has led to an odd switch in public opinion. With unemployment mounting, Polandís honeymoon period with Western-style capitalism is over and the free-market system is gradually losing its sheen. Many people, especially among the older generations and rural populations, profess a longing for the stability that communism once offered. In fact, former members of the Communist Party, such as Prime Minister Miller and President Kwasniewski, have been elected into office, and in May, officials announced plans to renationalize the floundering Szczecin shipyardómarking the first time government has intervened with private business. Ironically, shipyard workers were the main impetus in the fight against communism back in the early 1980s when martial law was enforced to quell massive protests. However, most experts doubt Poland will abandon its free-market system, and the problems it is experiencing are nowhere near the economic collapse Russia endured in the 1990s. Poland remains a strong draw for investors, and Grudzinski dismisses the recent economic slowdown as merely a ìbump in the road,î saying he still expects Poland to become the ìeconomic powerhouseî of Central Europeóthanks in part to its membership in organizations such as NATO. He says Polandís efforts to join both NATO and the EU have required careful negotiations, fundamental reforms and decisive policy actions. ìWe are the leaders of this dual enlargement process. This is a fast-moving train. One has to jump into it and take a seat,î he says. ìI believe we will be able to ride the wave of history and make Poland, in 10 or 15 years, an affluent country like other Western European countries. It seemed so remote 10 or 12 years ago.î Born in 1950 in Torun, Poland, Grudzinski holds a doctorate in history and is an expert on various aspects of American history, including the American-Mexican war of the 1840s. He has written a book on President Franklin D. Rooseveltís vision of Europe and two books about American nuclear strategy. Grudzinski had two fellowships at Princeton, a teaching post at UCLA, and also spent a summer washing dishes in Buffalo. As a history professor in Poland, he worked for 20 years at the Institute of History at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. He recalls his work there from 1976 to 1996 fondly, saying it was a stimulating time in which he was part of a vigorous opposition movement. ìIt was a fascinating part of my lifeóworking as a historian and being a solider of an alternative media network. Some of us believed that the Soviet empire would not last 1,000 years or even a hundred years. We were thinking possibly decades,î he says. When the communist government fell and Solidarity became the dominant political force, Grudzinski joined the new government. In 1990, he became an adviser to the deputy minister of national defense and the next year became the director of the bureau of research for the Polish Parliament. He then served from 1992 to 1993 as the deputy minister of national defense. From 1994 to 1997, he was a professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany and then served as undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until becoming ambassador. Grudzinski brings with him a vast knowledge of, and a deep affection for, his host nation. ìI came to know this country well at a lot of levels. This is the only country where I could be a productive diplomat. This is friendly territory. I have many friends here,î he says. ìThis has been a work of love for me. Some would say that diplomats should not be in love with their host country. I think they are wrong. A diplomat can be in love with his or her country and still represent their interests of their own country very well. This is exactly what Iím doing. I enjoy every single day here, but I realize this friendly terrain can be full of hidden surprises and nuances that are not apparent from superficial view,î he adds. Grudzinski says he relishes telling Polandís complex story in the United States and has found audiences warm and receptive. ìThe most powerful instrument at my disposal is that Poland has become a symbol of a group of values. Many in Washington are deeply attracted to Poland. They have supported my country for many years and have a sort of proprietary attitude toward Poland. They have helped us over two decades break free from the Soviet Union and reorganize ourselves. They feel part of the success story of Poland. They want us to be successful and be a major part of Central Europe,î he says. ìMy main challenge is to translate this good feeling to Poland to progress on concrete issues,î he adds. The ambassador argues that Washington diplomacy is daunting and says he is still learning the tricks of the trade. ìWashington is a difficult country to understand. It has a very difficult structure to understand. Iím not deceived by the openness and friendliness,î he says. ìAs a diplomat here, you have more instruments at your disposal than in a more traditional European country. This is part of the game,î he adds. Grudzinski says a crucial part of the job of an ambassador is to work in a fluid environment and to react to what he calls the ìacceleration of history.î ìThis is a quick operation. Itís important to take advantage of openings that appear and disappear quickly. This is the nature of an ambassadorís job now. An ambassador must be very quick and be able to run a 100-yard sprintórepeatedly,î he says. Grudzinski has spent much of this year preparing for the official visit of President Kwasniewski to the United States in mid-July. The highlight of the trip will be a state dinner hosted by President George W. Bush and a luncheon hosted by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. President Kwasniewski will meet with business leaders and speak to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as well as the Business Roundtable. The ambassador says the meetings will include talks about NATO expansion and Polandís bid to enter the EU. The Polish people, he says, are excited both by the visit of their president to Washington and the return of Pope John Paul II to Polandóthe country where he was born and where he began his priesthood. ìWe need the pope to visit because there is a certain exhaustion and confusion as the first wave of success has ended and people have lost some of their optimism. We need him to give us another boost. The pope has influence over all generations and ages,î Grudzinski says. After the presidential and papal trips, the ambassador sees a busy and historic fall lineup for Poland with a key October meeting of the EU, NATOís Prague summit in November, and then the EUís December summit in which it is expected to formally invite Poland and several other nations to join. ìClearly this fall for Poland and Central Europe will become seven weeks that will change history. This seven-week period will shape Central Europe in decisive ways, and Poland is determined to reach its European destiny this year and then enter the EU on Jan. 1, 2004.î John Shaw is a contributing writer to The Washington Diplomat.