euro|topics - Aleksander Smolar

Dziennik Gazeta Prawna - Poland | 08/08/2008

The Beijing Games are a scandal

On the day the Olympic Games begin in Beijing the daily Dziennik publishes an open letter written by 19 Polish intellectuals harshly condemning the International Olympic Committee (IOC). "Awarding the Olympic Games to China was a disgrace for which the functionaries of the Olympic Committee are responsible. Their claim that they do not want to interfere in politics is cynical and hypocritical. Respecting human rights is a universal norm of civilisation that only communists and fascists fail to observe. We do not condemn the athletes who participate in the Olympics - they did not choose the location. ... But we are expressing our displeasure with all those politicians who, by their very presence in Beijing - regardless of their verbal statements - are supporting a dictatorial state. Above all we want to show our solidarity with all those who are being deprived of their freedom and fundamental rights in China. We are convinced that any dictatorship - even that of a powerful state - must be condemned."

Dziennik Gazeta Prawna - Poland | 20/11/2007

Shoud Poland adopt the EU fundamental rights charter?

Aleksander Smolar, President of the Stefan Batory Foundation, analyses the Polish dispute over the European Charter on Fundamental Rights which is to be signed along with the EU Treaty at the EU summit on December 13 in Lisbon. The new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is still deliberating whether to push Poland's accession to the Charter against the will of Polish President Lech Kaczynski. Smolar analyses the situation: "The new government is facing a tough decision: should it accept the Charter on moral grounds and also in a bid to end Poland's isolation, thus running the risk that the Polish President torpedoes the entire EU Reform Treaty? Or should it adopt the cut-down Polish version of the Charter given the fundamental importance of the document? I fear this problem will become the battlefield of the first important confrontation the PiS uses to discredit the PO government and bolster its own voter base."

Przekrój - Poland | 15/02/2007

Little prospect of new elections in Poland

Aleksander Smolar, a Polish political expert and president of Warsaw's Stefan Batory Foundation, doesn't believe there will be new elections in Poland - despite the recent resignations of the country's interior and defence ministers. Talking to Katarzyna Kolenda-Zaleska, he explains that the right-wing ruling party PiS would no longer be able to find a coalition partner. "The ability of the PiS to form a coalition has been reduced to zero. They have gobbled up all that was left to be gobbled up... They will try to get through their period in office without new elections. The money flowing in from the EU will help them because it neutralises the negative impact of their government. As far as politics is concerned, I'm not very optimistic. I can see the internal chaos getting worse and worse and the country becoming increasingly isolated. For me, the Kaczynskis' absence at Davos was symbolic... Poland is being held hostage by the private psychological problems of its president and its prime minister."

Financial Times - United Kingdom | 10/07/2006

Europeans need concerted policy towards Russia

Europeans "face a delicate balancing act" vis-a-vis a newly assertive Russia at this week's G8 summit in St. Petersburg, write author-historian Timothy Garton Ash, Dominique Moisi of the French Institute for International Relations, and Aleksander Smolar, chairman of the Warsaw affiliate of the Soros Foundation. ... "We have not had a European policy towards Russia in recent years, only national ones, which in the case of the leading western European states were too often variations on the theme of appeasement." As for Russia, "with power comes responsibility. Precisely because Russia is an energy superpower, it must use that power responsibly. Russia should not blackmail Europe with the prospect that it will develop closer ties with East Asia if Europeans are too demanding or arrogant. The energy tap should not be turned on and off ... for political reasons."

Élet és Irodalom - Hungary | 07/04/2006

Euro scepticism in Eastern Europe

In an interview with Janos Szeky, Polish political scientist Aleksander Smolar explains the success of right-wing populist and Euro-sceptic policies in Eastern Europe. "At the end of the 1990s, we had achieved all of our major strategic goals: a pluralist democracy, market economy, constitutional state, freedom of the press, NATO membership. And EU entrance was just a step away. This process of modernisation had been spurred on by the centre-right and centre-left parties. But after that they ran out of goals. Suddenly they had nothing more to say, and the future crisis began... At the same time the Catholic Utopia of the 1930s was once more being revived, in the spirit of Vichy France and the dictatorships in Spain and Portugal. I don't want to say that the Kaczynski brothers are out to destroy democracy... But their ideological programme is very reminiscent of the utopian, reactionary ideas of the Catholic movement of the 1930s."

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Smolar, Aleksander

The Beijing Games are a scandal

Shoud Poland adopt the EU fundamental rights charter?

Little prospect of new elections in Poland

Europeans need concerted policy towards Russia

Euro scepticism in Eastern Europe

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Smolar, Aleksander

The Beijing Games are a scandal

Shoud Poland adopt the EU fundamental rights charter?

Little prospect of new elections in Poland

Europeans need concerted policy towards Russia

Euro scepticism in Eastern Europe

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