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| Questions to Ryszard Czarnecki, member of the European Parliament
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Ryszard Czarnecki, Polish Member of the European Parliament
Photo: EP
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Ryszard Czarnecki is a Polish member of the European Parliament. A former Polish deputy minister of culture, he now represents the Samoobrona region in the EP where he is not attached to any political group.
In an exclusive interview with European Jewish Press, Czarnecki talks about his views on anti-Semitism in Poland and the difficulties the Polish government face in convincing Jews to accept Poland as a bonafide country and not always associate it with anti-Semitism.
Czarnecki says his participation in the 1998 'March of the Living' in Auschwitz, while Minister of European Integration in the Polish government, is his most memorable political moment.
European Jewish Press: Do you think anti-Semitism still exists in Poland?
Ryszard Czarnecki: Unfortunately, anti-Semitic feelings still persist among certain sectors of the Poland's population. Anti-Semitic slogans did not completely disappear in Poland and anti-Semitism continues to manifests itself in different forms and levels, mostly in the circles associated with ultra-nationalist groups. However, there is a continuing decline in anti-Semitism in Poland. Talking from my own experience, the Polish government both in the national level and at the local level is actively promoting various initiatives to combat anti-Semitism and to promote education about the Holocaust.
I believe improving Polish-Jews relations and building trust between our nations requires also some extensive clarification regarding the concentration camps and the role of Poles during the war. Through the years, Jews have expressed suspicious towards Poland. The fact that some Poles co-operated with Nazi Germany during the Second World War and the fact that the death camps operated on Polish soil under the German-Nazi government created a negative perception of Poland and Poles among many Jews. Unfortunately, Poland is often remembered as the country that housed the Holocaust. In order to reach a better partnership between Jews and poles this issue should be clarified.
EJP: The EU has until now adopted a "wait-and-see" approach towards Hamas. Do you think that this will change with the new Hamas-led government?
RC:The EU along with the US, UN and Russia, has places some very clear conditions for Hamas for continuing financial assistance. As we have witness, the EU has shown its determination by suspending direct aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and committing to past agreement with Israel are non negotiated issues.
I believe that for reasons of religious convictions, Hamas will try anything but meeting the EU conditions. Regrettably, Hamas turning to Iran and Saudi-Arabia for financial aid implies not only dangerous foreign intervention in an already unstable region, but also is also an unreliable source of aid for the Palestinians.
Now in power, the Hamas will have to come to term with the responsibilities attached to governance. If the Palestinians were grateful for the Hamas for any assistant it has provided in the past, now they will blame Hamas for anything they lack. As for now, I do not foresee political solution. The EU current challenge is keeping the level of confrontation to a minimum.
EJP: Are you optimistic about the current development of the EU?
RC: I regard the EU's first and foremost challenge as the slow economic development. EU economic competition with the USA and Asia is falling short. European productivity growth per employee and economic growth has been barely half of the US over the last five years and fifth of the economic growth experienced by China, and it is unlikely that the employment objectives will be attainable. The Lisbon development strategy adopted 6 years ago to deal with the low productivity and stagnation of economic growth in the EU exists, unfortunately, only on paper.
Regrettably, EU restrictions on freedom of movement of workers from the new member states of Central and Eastern Europe prevents full access to the labour markets are limiting the full potential the EU economy. This issue posses an economic and a social problem to the union. One of the EU's principal priorities is to establish social cohesion among the citizens of the union and create an area of co-operation and, mobility. The restrictions on free movement of workers convey a message of 'second class citizens' to the new member states. As we have witness last year in the Parisian Suburbs, social inequalities and luck of free opportunities can lead to grave consequences.
EJP: What has been the best memory in your political career?
RC: One of the most stirring moments I experienced through my career took place when I was a Minister of European Integration in the Polish government. In 1998 I participated in the March of Living in the concentration camp of Auschwitz. The participants included the Prime Ministers of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and the former Prime Minister of Poland Jerzy Buzek.
I carry with pride the history of my family in that dreadful time. Before the start of the Second World War my grandparents Henryk Karol Czarnecki and Bronislawa Czarnecka were managing local theatres in Poland, working day to day with Jewish artists. After the Jewish communities were gathered in the Warsaw Ghetto, my grandparents continued to help their Jewish friends inside the Ghetto. From 1939 till the start of the Ghetto uprising in 1943, my grandparents worked with the Zegota movement - The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland and have visited the Ghetto many times caring food and medicines.
During that time my grandparents have helped over 30 children Jewish children escape from the Ghetto. They hosted one or two children each time during the children's first night of flee to the Polish side of Warsaw. In several occasions my father, 6 years old at that time, accompanied the children outside the Ghetto by pretending to be their brother.
Looking at the Jewish and Polish youth walking together at the March of Living, I imagined my father as a child during the war, walking out the Ghetto hand in hand with a Jewish child and felt something new is born in this terrible place of Holocaust.
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