The Visegrad Summer School is a cultural and educational program for students, graduates and young professional from Visegrad Group countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary) as well as other Central and East European countries. I was lucky enough to become one of the five participants from Ukraine, and to go to Krakow, the city in Poland where the school takes place, to broaden my knowledge about political and social situation in current Central-Eastern Europe.
The school included lectures about Visegrad Group, responsibility for refugees, European parliament, higher education in Central-Eastern Europe, EuroMaidan and many more. However, at the end all of the discussions approached Ukrainian crisis. Many participants, firstly Ukrainians, but later many others, eagerly asked question about Ukraine’s future, European Union policy towards Ukraine, Russian propaganda etc.
A participant from Hungary, also a Ph.D. student and history professor, Zoltan Kelemen said:“ A few weeks ago I thought Ukraine might be torn in two parts (or three if Crimea counts) if she gains no straight help from the West. It is not clear whether the EU had seen in her a potential new member based on the shared cultural values, or a buffer zone based on its interest to isolate Russia. The staggering and heroic resistance of Ukraine though seems to realize the scenario of a complete Ukraine joining the EU against all odds.”
Many interesting quotes about Ukraine were given, such as: “Romania is a key to solving crisis in Ukraine, because it will influence EU foreign policy” or “No one in Eastern Europe will help Ukraine regain Crimea.”
Jan Pieklo, director of Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation PAUCI, called Ukraine a lighthouse in Europe. “Ukraine shows us values we should preserve,” he said.
“I am interested in the Ukrainian crisis exactly because it is a neighbor country to Poland,” says Maciej Dybała, a Polish graduate with degrees in social psychology and political science. “Moreover I feel culturally close to Ukrainian people and have many friends from there. I think that events which can be seen in Ukraine these days reflect some bigger tensions which will soon show up.”
By the end of the discussion about the European Parliament, Michael Sutowski, a Polish political commentator, made it clear that EU will not include Ukraine with invaded territories, especially while there’s no common policy towards Ukraine/Russia inside the union. Some countries like France, Austria, Italy, Hungary, have no problems continuing cooperation with Russia, despite its sponsorship of military actions in eastern Ukraine.
When asked “why do you personally care about Ukrainian crisis?”, Josef Benes, an M.A. student from the Czech Republic said: “As a realist, I care because of security, I want to avoid negative spillover to other countries. As an idealist, I believe in peace and harmony, democracy and law. We have our own experiences from 1968.”
When in Ukraine, what we think the West thinks about us we can see only through statements of politicians. But here, being among students like me from the same part of Europe, I got to know the other side. I felt very encouraged by the attention and interest of participants towards Ukraine, either by asking questions me, my Ukrainian colleges or the lecturers. Regardless the origin of this interest, whether historical or political or purely pragmatic, I felt that Ukraine “is not on it’s own.”
I really hope that while politicians keep playing their games, the youth of Europe will stand for the future of Ukraine as Ukraine continues to fight for the future of Europe.
Kyiv Post staff writer Iryna Yeroshko can be reached at [email protected]
