Central Europe as community of shared aspirations

By Andrzej Duda, Poland President

A new decade of the 20th century has just opened.  As we look towards the future, we are looking for areas which will be the centres of dynamic and positive changes. I am certain that Central Europe will be one of them on the European and global scale.

On the threshold of the historic breakthrough of 1989, Timothy Garton Ash wrote that the concept of Central Europe has roused the Western world from thinking in Cold War terms, has challenged the common notions and priorities but also had something new to offer in return. This opinion seems to be valid today as our region with its solid economic growth has made a significant civilization leap.

We can also serve as an inspiring example of how co-operation, joint initiatives and undertakings bring positive results. It was thanks to them that Central Europe ceased to be a peripheral area between the West and East and instead became a structure connected by multiple ties, one that is aware of its interests and has an influence on the course of European affairs.

We have different forms of co-operation among Central European countries, including the Visegrad Group, an entity which gathers Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, or the Bucharest Nine, a structure that groups countries of NATO’s eastern flank: Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. Among them, Three Seas Initiative, initiated in 2015, has become one of the most important. TSI comprises countries located between the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black seas: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary. The goal is to make joint investments in infrastructure, transport, energy, and new technologies that will boost the development in our countries and contribute to the cohesion of the European Union. The fact that aside from the capital from within the EU, also investors from the United States, China, and other parts of the world are involved in the Three Seas Initiative ensures a sound diversification of benefits and mutual interdependence.

This is the picture of today and the vision of the future of Central Europe as the community of shared activities, success, and ambitious aspirations.