1. The European dimension Lublins Response(quotes)Selected, edited by Grzegorz KondrasiukTranslated by Magorzata Stanek Lublin 2010

2. Europe is a mission something to be made, created, built.Geographical Europe never had fixed borders, and is unlikely ever toacquire them as long as the essence goes on being, as it has beenthus far free-floating and only loosely, if at all, tied to any particularplot in space.Any line circumscribing Europe will remain a challenge for the rest ofthe planet and a standing invitation to transgression. Zygmunt Bauman, Europe: an unfinished adventure, 2004[ The European dimension of Lublins application shows that Europehas always been open-ended, that it is a project, a challenge and thatour response to this challenge is cooperation with eastern neighbours -Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, possibly within the framework of theEastern Partnership (gk)] 3. 1. The Polish-Ukrainian Dialogue A look into the past[Several examples of remembrance work, of the difficult, controversial issues from thePolish-Ukrainian history, finally liberated from the communist regime which stifled thiskind of discourse (gk)]We forgive and ask for forgiveness.Fr. Jan Zieja to Lithuanians, Belorussians and Ukrainians, 1972The focus of Polands eastern policy should be the acknowledgement of the right to self-governance and autonomy for all oppressed nations. From the Polish perspective, thisconcerns particularly Ukrainians, Belorussians and Lithuanians.Julian Mieroszewski, Polska Ostpolitik, Kultura, 1973There is no free Poland without free Ukraine.Jacek Kuro, 1976Our future depends on us. This is why we hope that our open hearts and hands extendedin reconciliation will not be rejected.An appeal to Brothers Ukrainians, Encounters. An independent magazine of YoungCatholics, 1979.[Encounters (Spotkania) is one out of several important magazines ofthe so-called second circulation. It was published uncensored in Lublin between1977-1989 [(gk)]. 4. Kijw Warszawa wsplna sprawa!Kiev - Warsaw a common cause! [from the Polish manifest during the Orange Revolution] 5. Against electoral frauds in Ukraine, GazetaWyborcza Lublin, 24 April, 2004Shops in Lublin have run out of orangeribbons. MCSU supports the protestsagainst breaking election laws inUkraine- just yesterday the UniversitySenate passed a special resolution.Authorities of the College of Polish andUkrainian Universities congratulatedVictor Yuschenko on assuming officeof the President of Ukraine. OnWednesday evening a bus carryingUkrainian students left Lublin for Kiev.Against the background of an orange banner with the inscription For your freedom andours held by two students at the Maria Curie-Sklodowska monument, the resolutionwas proclaimed by the MCSUs Rector, Professor Marian Harasimiuk, who was dressedin the official crimson toga furred with ermine. The chairman of the ECPUU Convent,Professor Jan Pomorski, with an orange ribbon pinned to his ermine collar, read out aletter of congratulations addressed to Victor Yushchenko on the occasion of hisassumption of office as the President of Ukraine. The Rectors addressed the public atthe Marie Curie Skodowska monument, next to the tents which Polish and Ukrainianstudents pitched in the snow. The rectors also collected signatures to the open lettersupporting Ukrainian opposition and distributed leaflets appealing for solidarity to allpeople of good will. At the same time, Young Democrats were distributing orangeribbons to passers-by in the Lithuanian Square [Plac Litewski].. 6. 2. Good practicesOrthodox celebrations took place in Chelm on the 70th Anniversary of the destructionof orthodox churches in the Chelm and Southern Podlasie regions. His ExcellenceMost Reverend Abel, Archbishop of Lublin-Chelm Diocese, assisted by other hierarchsof the Orthodox Church, consecrated the obelisk commemorating the events of 70years ago. Micha Kamiski from the Presidents Office read out the presidents letter,in which Lech Kaczyski expressed his regret over the faults of the past and assuredthe willingness to build a Poland in which the equality of faiths would be not onlymandatory but also absolutely respected. The Prime Minister, in turn, wrote in hisletter that todays celebrations in Chelm are a sign of remembrance, which we shouldobserve in the belief that our common commitment is to bear witness to the historicaltruth of these events and pass it on to future generations. Radio Lublin NewsroomOctober 2008[after www.cerkiew1938.plThe website was created with the blessings of His Excellence Most Reverend Abel,Archbishop of Lublin- Chelm Orthodox Diocese on the 70th Anniversary of the destruction of orthodox churches in the regions of Chelm and Southern Podlasie in1938 r. The website cerkiew1938.pl is owned by the Lublin- Chelm Orthodox Diocese.] 7. After the end of WWII a border and a barbed wire divided Korczmin into two. Throughthe Transborder Polish-Ukrainian Days of Neighbourliness, a symbolic act of reconciliationis effectuated on the border: the barbed wire is pushed back, Ukrainians and Poles crossthe border together. Today at 9 am a solemn procession will set out from the church inKorczmin to carry the icon of Our Lady across the border. Later, on the Ukrainian side,there will be a consecration of the spring and a procession to the orthodox church inKorczmin.pr, Korczmin without the barbed wire, Gazeta Wyborcza 2006We are planning to turn the renovated orthodox church in Korczmin into a place ofmeetings for communities of the border zones- individuals of various nationalities,churches and religions, particularly youth- in order to facilitate discussions, the exchangeof ideas as well as to enable cooperation on various projects. Fr. Stefan BatruchProject PL0242 entitled The renovation ofhistorical orthodox churches in the Lublin-ChelmOrthodox Diocese. Szczebrzeszyn. Dohobyczw.Stage II - The project is financed under theEuropean Economic Area Financial Mechanism(EEA FM) and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.[Before WWII the Polish government would demolish orthodox churches. In thePoland today-they are being rebuilt, with the aid of European funds. (gk)] 8. 3. Borders, problems, crises, frustrations...No reasonable argument can account for the years of maintaining queues ofvisa requests or the shocking procedures employed in this process. Krzysztof Herbst, On the border with Ukraine the scandal continues,Gazeta Wyborcza 2009For years Ive been involved with trying to save Polish and Jewish monumentsin western Belarus. I dont know whether in Brest I will be ever able tosimply receive a Polish visa.Swietana Romanowicz, Brest, Belarus, Visas on a whim, or what does not serve Poland a letter,Gazeta Wyborcza, 2010A scandal erupted in Ukraine several weeks ago, when a well-knownUkrainian writer Taras Prochako was refused a Polish visa. [..] A consulateclerk demanded documents to certify that Prochako is indeed a writer.Marcin Wojciechowski, The Polish Consulate in Lviv does not like writers,Gazeta Wyborcza 2008[the border is a miniature image of the EU (gk)] 9. file:///home/pptfactory/temp/20120413130205/karykatury/229.jpg Eastern Partnership and eastern frustration. I, a citizen of Ukraine, Oleksandr Boychenko, -seeing that the European Parliaments Resolution RC-B7-0116/2010* is a typical for this institution- collection of demagogic clichs will instantly vomiton the keyboard-upon hearing the phrase European values I will also vomit on the keyboardbecause in recent years Ive heard it pronounced mainly in the context of bigcountries proposing that small countries use said values for heating, whilstnegotiating among themselves with regards to oil and gas. (...)etc.*European Parliaments resolution regarding the situation in Ukraine 10. Europe is everything outside RussiaSokrat Janowicz 11. In Ukraine, the "Eastern Partnership" provoked criticism and disappointment, evenfeelings of misunderstanding and offence, especially among people whose actions andaspirations have been directed towards the West and who- not without reason-consider themselves "not inferior to Europeans." One can understand them in view ofthe EUs stance with regards to Partnership, which may be read thus: "In Europe, weare deemed worse than Europeans, after all.Partner means a co-participant in a game, a companion, an accomplice.Contemporary EU leaders are unable to regard any of the Ukrainian authorities asequal partners. Much like an average European, who cannot envisage finding a partneramong mobs smuggling cigarettes and spirits across the border.Woodymyr Pawliw, Dialogue of cultures, 2009A process of diplomatic isolation of Ukraine is being effectuated. Relations with Polandare the main reasons for concern. One would have to be completely and utterly blindnot to notice the negative tendencies prevailing in Polish-Ukrainian relations.Taras Woniak, The Process of Ukraines diplomatic isolation, in: Taras Woniaks Blog 2009 12. Over the past ten years Poland has become closer - not only to me but tomany thousands, perhaps millions, of Ukrainians. It has become moreaccessible and, in some respects, richer, more interesting and varied albeitfor each of us in a different way. At the same time, in a different sense, Polandhas also become more distant and unattainable. It would seem that it hasonce again turned into an elusive phantom caravel, a UFO, which vanishessomewhere beyond the western horizon leaving us behind- all alone in theEurasian kingdom of dragons and troglodytes. Before our eyes...Poland isbecoming simply one of many countries of the unattainable West; it isassociated less with books, magazines, films or music and increasingly with theopportunity of making a decent living, working, buying, selling, emigrating.Mykola Riabchuk, From Little Russia to Ukraine, 2002 13. 4. Prognoses, questions, dreams...Either Ukraine will be a strong, developed country, reckoned with both inEurasia and Europe or a weak Banana Republic, disregarded both here andthere. In the first case, the integration of Ukraine into the EU would be anatural and obvious step to take; in the second- the role of a westernUkrainian neocolony still seems a little more appealing than that of aRussian neocolony. Taras Kuzio, Henadij Hamalij, Politics as Rhetorics, Krytyka [Critique],1997 14. I have a dream that after the parliamentary elections to be held inautumn in Poland and in spring [2005] in Ukraine- there will be amore dynamic regional cooperation in the areas stretching betweenthe Baltic and the Black Sea, maybe even branching off to theCaspian Sea. Poland and Ukraine could stand at the heart of suchcooperation.Bohdan Osadchuk, Obrachunek z histori, [Settling history], 2005 15. The act of Polish- Ukrainian reconciliation observed in recent decades can beconfidently identified as one of the landmarks in the post-communist historyof Central and Eastern Europe. Taking into account its historical significance,it can be compared to the reconciliation between France and Germanyfollowing the Second World War. Much like the Paris-Berlin axis became thebasis for the new Western Europe, so does the Warsaw-Kiev axis stand avery good chance of becoming the main pillar of a new Eastern Europe and ina broader sense- the guarantor of geopolitical stability in this part of theworld.Jaroslaw Hrycak, What comes after Giedroy?, 2006 16. Do Kiev and Warsaw still share a common cause?What remains in us, Poles, of the sudden love for Ukrainians whichburst five years ago during the Orange revolution? What is left afterthis honeymoon, as the infatuation has been termed by MyrosawMarynowycz? After Polands entrance into the Schengen Zone, doUkrainians, although separated by a new visa block wall- an obstaclemore difficult than any of us have ever anticipated- still see us asallies, or perhaps only as a part of a distant and further withdrawingWestern Europe? Or perhaps we look at them with the same sense ofinsufferable superiority, which we have often experienced ourselves inrelation to our western neighbours? Such questions have multipliedover the last five years. The future of Ukrainian-Polish relations is nolonger certain, it is questionable. We seem to be increasingly moreinclined to pick out the differences that divide us.Zbigniew Nosowski, introduction, Wi [Bond], issue Kijw Warszawa: wsplna sprawa? [Kiev-Warsaw: a common cause?], 2009[Polish-Ukrainian dialogue open questions still remain (gk)]