by Mariusz Popławski

Transcription

1 302 Reviews that the book presents Germans as bold reformers of European institutions and supporters of a stronger European Parliament. The complex study is concluded by the presentation of federalist ideas of the German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, President Johannes Rau s vision of the future, and the declaration by Gerhard Schröder, tellingly entitled Responsibility for Europe. Michał Kosman s book is a comprehensive and exhaustive study of the policy of Germany towards integrated Europe. The author skilfully combines a calendar of events with a review of official documents, enriching his exposition with interesting political observations. Well-planned composition is augmented by a lucid style. The only suggestion which could be taken into account before the second edition is published, is that the author should extend his study to include the years The book deserves to be recommended to political scientists, historians, lawyers, experts in international relations, as well as journalists interpreting the contemporary Polish-German dialogue. Book review: Wojciech Peszyński, First Elections to the European Parliament in Poland (Pierwsze wybory do Parlamentu Europejskiego w Polsce), Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń 2007, pp. 147 by Mariusz Popławski Political scientists, in their research work, concentrate on various topics. For some, thoughts and ideas of a famous statesman are fascinating and for others is the future influence of NGO s on local communities. One thing, one time is said to have enough potential to unite attention of most of political scientists, as this is an event when they may observe how matters that they are especially interested in are apprehended. This mentioned event is, in my opinion, what elections indeed are and some may even say that elections are the festival of politics and sometimes of democracy. I really share this opinion and because of that I have, with a lot of curiosity, reached for the latest book written by Wojciech Peszyński titled The First Elections to the European Parliament in Poland (Pierwsze wybory do Parlamentu Europejskiego w Polsce). My first impression, before getting familiar with the content, is that this young researcher made a very brave try of picturing which processes and matters stood behind and what was the background of the title elections. The first elections to the European Parliament took place not so long ago. This was a new situation for Polish society, when they, for the first time, were asked a question what kind of vision of Europe (European Union) is most close to their own. Wojciech Peszyński had a difficult task because it was also a new situation for Polish researchers. Still many questions and matters hasn t been enough comprehensively explained nor fully presented. Undertaking such challenge shall

2 Reviews 303 be noticed while this book is an important voice for the future discussion about the perspectives for uniting Europe and its institutions. Multiplicity of views and opinions is obviously necessary. Every election of this type, when whole country is an arena of political discussion and when every citizen is an elector, is a complex matter. It is obvious for political scientists that there are main fields or groups of issues that shall be analysed if you want to present an image which is not only an official report but also a comprehensive answer. After reading First Elections I m convinced that Wojciech Peszyński is definitely aware of that. You may just look at the table of contents and you will notice that this book is at least an attempt of presenting various aspects of this complex event. Of course it is not only it. The book is written using good language and the author proved that he has a proper command not of the style but what is the most important political-science categories, terms and vocabulary. Reading it is like listening to a good lecture, presented by somebody who is a real enthusiast of the subject he is talking about. Also the choice of sources is quite impressive. As I have mentioned before, there is still not enough publications concerning Euroelections, and to be honest there are hardly any. In this situation Wojciech Peszyński had to put a lot of effort to find and to select materials to work on. Among references we find here publications written by Kazimierz Łastawski, Marek Jeziński, Karol B. Janowski or Janusz Justyński, as well as lots of magazine articles, interviews, law statutes, political parties materials. The author does not limit it to traditional sources. Also a study of political parties websites, which are places where one can find the most up-to-date information, has been done. The structure of the book is also rather good, but one chapter is unfortunately an exception the first one. In the second chapter the author writes about the legal background, in the third one about all aspects of the general situation before the accession, the forth one is about programmes of political parties and the campaign, and in the fifth he presents the elections results. The problem here is that the first chapter is about the specific character of the Euro-elections in Poland. In my opinion it shall be placed elsewhere. Perhaps between current third and fourth? That would make a proper connection between the historical background and the campaign. Nevertheless, this is might be just a matter of interpretation. But taking into account the essence of the first chapter, which full title is The Specific Character of Elections to the European Parliament in the Political System of RP, I shall write here that it is a really deep analysis. In this part of the book we may notice what is the goal of the author the explanation of unique nature of Euro-elections in Poland. It is kind of an introduction, presentation of matters that shall make the reader understand what the causes of the Polish results are. The author states an opinion that the elections shall be consider in relation to philosophy of political parties and their informal procedures of acting on the political stage. That means that we need to be aware of the fact that political parties use

3 304 Reviews their potential, which shall be also understood as their financial assets, to invest it in politically profitable events. In Wojchiech Peszyński s opinion, and mine too, Euro-elections are such an event that is neither worth parties money nor effort, in the context of direct profits. It shall be considered as a general promotion. Using K. Reif & H. Schmitt theory of second-order elections the author placed Euro-elections on the second ground of Polish political life, behind, i.e. presidential or local government elections. To sum up this chapter deliberations found here are valuable but in my opinion this problems shall be presented in comparison to situation in other countries. The author did not skip that problem. We can find examples from other states later in the book. General judgment of that chapter can not be different than giving it an opinion of a keen presentation of all the issues that may concern the subject of Polish specific character. Peszyński has proved that not only he has selected proper sources, but also that his current knowledge of Polish politics is wide. I must admit here that this publication, besides its general ideas concerning Euroelections, contains also lots of useful information and thoughts concerning elections in Poland in general. Chapter Two, comparing to the first one, is definitely on its place. There is no doubt that the reader has to know The Legal Basis for Elections to the EP in Poland. For some, all acts of law, statues or the constitution are not that important. But we shall remember that nothing in social sciences is created in vacuum. States like Poland set a course for subjects acting in their space. Some areas are taken more seriously. Elections are one of the pillars of democracy and as such demand special attention. Rules should be clear, understandable and fair for every participant either elected or electing. Creation of a system might be taken as a chance to make it more profitable for certain types of political bodies. As Wojciech Peszyński points out it can be noticed in the presented elections too. Unclear division of seats between regions or frequent changes of provisions may cause among voters a feeling that somebody is trying to give himself an unfair handicap. But in Polish Euro-elections act you may also notice some kind of an achievement. I mean here forbidding to candidate for persons that have been sentenced for a deliberate crime. As the author writes until that statue nowhere else in Polish law one could find such ban and that shall be strongly noticed, as it has a very strong influence on the level of our political culture. Chapter three, titled Political situation, Socio-economic and International Position of Poland before the Accession, is an another proof that Wojciech Peszyński has a good knowledge of the situation in recent Polish politics. Just to give an example while judging current situation the author presents also matters concerning parliamentary commission which was suppose to investigate the PKN Orlen case. This chapter is also a good remark about then fears about the future of the country regarding the membership in the EU. Today they seem ridiculous, but in fact they existed. Plenty of these fears had an economic ground. As the author reminds us the most popular gossip was that the price of sugar

4 Reviews 305 will rise rapidly. Nothing such happened, but this case has revealed a very characteristic mechanism for Euro-elections, which is noticeable in other European countries. Such fears and apprehensions are a fertile ground for the protest parties. One of factors of high results of LPR in the presented elections was that is was the most recognisable political group that opposed to enter the EU. What is more it used the mechanism of fear of the unknown and natural resistance of some social groups to a change. These were mostly the retired and small-town citizens. This reminds us that Polish political leaders had to prepare their own strategy which would suit their electorate. Chapter four, titled Programmes of the Elections Committees and the Course of the Elections, is dedicated to that problem. In my opinion, together with next one, this chapter is the real core of the authors analysis. The goal of the author was here to give readers general idea of key elements of political offer of certain parties. Often it is said that programmes shall only exist, but its content is less important as they are only a result of well-known opinions of the party. Nevertheless, political scientists shall be against that opinion as these documents shall give voters the chance to get familiar with the offer of political actors. Each more important party is presented here. In Wojciech Peszyński s opinion in quite interesting situation was the left side of Polish political arena. SLD in coalition with UP, despite its post-communistic character, was the most EU-oriented formation. President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, treated still as its political leader, had then very good results in opinion polls. One could say that it should gain a lot of support, but the situation was more complicated. As the author underlines, it had several problems and the most crucial was the unclear involvement of some of its ministers in the Rywingate scandal. Also it shall be added here that more scandals as bribes or nepotism appeared. In this situation a group of its MPs, lead by Marek Borowski, established a new party SDPL. This did not help SLD either. Wojciech Peszyński also underlines in this chapter the role of individual. A whole subsection is dedicated to them. I agree with the author that this, what is called now the californisation of politics, was also present then. Besides parties leaders, on the lists of candidates we could find such persons as Krzysztof Hołowczyc rally champion, Rafał Kubacki also famous sportsman. What shall be noticed, in connection to EU matters in Poland, is that this same leaders, this same faces that some months ago were convincing on billboards to vote yes or no in the referendum on the EU membership of Poland, now could use the gained potential. The final chapter, titled Results of the Elections starts with a subsection of which title is in my opinion brave Reasons for High Absence of Poles in the Elections to the European Parliament. I must express such a remark as the title lacks word possible at the beginning. Professor Roman Bäcker, Head of the Instituted of Political Science UMK, once asked by a journalist why Poles do not take part in elections said that this question is so complicated that it can t be answered. Such an attempt made by Wojciech Peszyński should be then described using the

5 306 Reviews mentioned adjective. Nevertheless, its value is high and this remark has only technical character. The author points out several factors that caused lack of participation. I must agree that one of the strongest was a will not to indirectly support the situation on the political arena. Also beside general knowledge of the meaning of the membership Peszyński underlines that Poles did not know EU institutions. Great part of the chapter is a comment on the results. One of the most interesting is the analysis of the result of LPR. The party, as I mentioned before, was the best identified exponent of anti-european opinions. It has gained more support than in any other elections. Lack of participation was for this political group a unique opportunity to have a better position in the context of next elections to national parliament. The book does not end at conclusions, which are the last text part of it. At the end there are several appendixes. They are extremely useful if we want to compare situation of certain parties. We will find here tables presenting not only Polish results, but also division of power between each European Parliament group since its establishment. Also, in graphical form the author shows us, i.e. the budget procedure and others. Table that contains names of each elected to the presented body representative finishes the book. To summarize, I would like to say that the time spent on this publication was worth it. It is a comprehensive analysis of what happened in Poland during Euro-elections and what the causes are. Some faults mentioned here are probably just matters of interpretation. Wojciech Peszyński made a brave, and successful, attempt to present the topic. The book is full of theories about this what happened so, as always in social sciences, those who make strong statements are exposed to criticism. But what counts here is taking part in this evolution of thoughts leading us a step closer to the truth and when this voice is so right we shall only be glad for expressing it.