Chapter 4 - “We're European because We're Polish”: Local, National and European Identities

Summary

Wojtek: Pole, European and Euroskeptic

Considering how studious and articulate Wojtek was in high school, it is not surprising that he is now a professor in Krakow. Nevertheless, it is an impressive achievement for the son of foresters and farmers, raised in a remote mountain village. Wojtek has always expressed a deep sense of attachment to the multiethnic region from which he comes. He says that his Polish Catholic identity means more to him because it was something he thought a lot about while growing up among ethnic Ukrainians. Although a few participants from Bieszczady attended university in Krakow, Wojtek is the only one who has stayed in the city. He lives with his wife and two children in an apartment they recently purchased. Wojtek's view of the EU is colored by his faith, his place of origin and his professional experiences. In 2005, he explained:

I was and to this day remain a Euroskeptic. In other words, I don't believe everything that comes from the EU is good. Rather, it's a process that will take twenty to thirty years, and our standard of living will probably never be equal [to that of other member states] because, after all, they don't stay in one place either. It's good they have aid programs [for us], but how much is it intended to improve our quality of life, and how much is it meant to make it better for the EU, for them?

Of course, we had been adapting our legal system for a number of years already, so at the moment of integration there wasn't that much disharmony that still had to be addressed. And it's hard to say if we wouldn't have made those changes without the EU, perhaps under pressure from other interest groups. Therefore, for me it's a continuum of reform we had, with the goal of joining Western countries, but my feeling is nothing has changed because of EU integration. The country is reforming, we're moving forward, and it is costing us a great deal of sacrifice.