New Eastern Europe - November-December 2017

147

Eastern European déjà vu

In Krastev’s view it is this first-hand
experience of the process of the disman-
tling of the Soviet bloc that is one of the
key markers of today’s divisions taking
place on the old continent. “Europe is
divided not only between left and right,
north and south, large and small states,
and those who want more Europe and
those who want less (or no Europe at
all), but also between those who have
experienced disintegration first-hand
and those who know it only from text-
books”, he writes in the introduction.
The impact of the experience of those
who lived through the fall of the Iron
Curtain and are now, while looking at
the EU, having a sense of déjà vu; it can
be seen in their less optimistic outlook
for the EU’s future. For them, as Krastev
writes, “shutting one’s eyes and believ-
ing that everything will be just fine is a
far more tenuous proposition”.
Not surprisingly, it is also reflected
with the highest levels of support towards
the EU that is recorded for Central Eu-
ropeans. Take the example of Poland,
where (despite a noticeable presence of
Eurosceptic voices in the public debate)
support of the EU is at a whopping 80
per cent, and is the highest among peo-
ple who are aged 35 and older. Similar

attitudes have been found in Hungary

(despite widespread disapproval of EU

leadership) where the public largely sup-

ports state membership of common Eu-

ropean structures. And in the Czech Re-

public when the president in 2016 called

for a referendum to leave the EU, it was

rejected by the government as it prob-

ably would not have got the approval of

the Czech public.

The consequences of this déjà vu ex-

perience, highlighted by Krastev, among

the populations of the former Soviet

bloc are not yet a guarantee that East-

ern Europeans will save the EU from a

collapse. Nor will they cause it, which

is often indicated by some media out-

lets negatively interpreting populist ten-

dencies taking place in the region and

viewing them as having a devastating

impact on the integrity of the Europe-

an community as a whole. Countering

this assumption, Krastev repeats a the-

sis he has already articulated before,

that “if disintegration happens, it will

not be because the periphery has run

away but because the centre (Germany,

France) has revolted”. At least for the mo-

ment the results of the French and the

German elections show that this is not

the case.

Europe’s 9/11

The disintegration, if it is to happen,
will obviously have many explaining

factors. Among the key ones, accord-

ing to Krastev, is the refugee crisis that

The disintegration train has left Brussels, Iwona Reichardt Eastern Café