Bronislaw Geremek on nationalism in Eastern Europe

Former Polish foreign minister and current EU parliamentarian Bronislaw Geremek tells Werner A. Perger why the call for authoritarian leadership is popular in eastern European countries: "It is connected with the fact that for us, nationalism was linked with an anti-totalitarian stance. We have experienced decades of totalitarian rule. But you also have to understand: we did not participate... Communism was forced upon us from the outside. Thus in Central and Eastern Europe, national feelings and memories were always anti-totalitarian, against Stalin and the Soviet Union, against Hitler and Nazi Germany. That has left its traces in the mentality of post-communist states. After 1989 ... we found out that western governments to a great extent pursue their own national interests - not the interests of the EU, or integration or European democracy. But while in the West nationalism is limited to dealings between governments and to the small populist fringe parties, here it is a majority issue."

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