The Polish historian of the twentieth century Professor Sławomir Łukasiewicz, the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, and the Ukrainian political scientist and publicist Mykola Riabchuk, Ph.D., from the Kuras Institute for Political and Ethnic Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv, are conducting a joint research project aiming to compare the historical experiences of Poland and Ukraine with regard to European integration. In practice, this will allow Ukrainians to be better prepared for the negotiation and EU accession process. Poland will also benefit. Łukasiewicz and Riabchuk’s study is possible thanks to the funding from the FOR UKRAINE programme of the Foundation for Polish Science.
In June 2022, the European Council granted Ukraine official candidate status for EU membership. The acceleration of integration procedures followed the Russian invasion, after which the Ukrainian public’s support for EU accession rose to a record, previously unprecedented, levels. “Granting Ukraine the EU candidate status is, for the time being, a symbolic gesture, albeit a very important one at a time of war. The idea of integration into the Union is beautiful, but it is followed by painstaking institutional and legal work so that the so-called Copenhagen criteria are met. There is a great deal of substantive work to be done and a great deal of practical work to be done before accession takes place. In the case of Ukraine, as in the case of Poland before it, integration into the European Union is an expression of the national liberation struggle and of breaking away from the hegemon that wanted to dominate us, namely Russia. We want to explore how this rhetoric helps or hinders the assimilation of these very practical issues necessary for accession,” says Mykola Riabchuk, one of the researchers leading the FNP-funded research project “From Discourse of «Europeanness» to EU Membership: Integration Narratives in Poland and Ukraine in Comparative Perspective: Merging Theoretical and Utilitarian Approach.”
A Lesson for Europe
“The escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war that began in February 2022 has become a catalyst for very important changes. A lot of things have come to light, as demonstrated by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is making it clear what Ukraine’s goals, aspirations, and dreams are, and what Ukraine is fighting for. For it is fighting not only for its independence and sovereignty, but also to become part of the European Union. This fight for European integration is an extremely important message for Europe, which has already become accustomed to a certain status quo, and here it turns out that certain values still have to be fought for. This is a very important lesson for Europe and Poland; we can learn a lot from the Ukrainian experience, which is unique. Because of this uniqueness, the European Union must take a different approach to Ukraine’s candidacy than it did to previous enlargements,” says Professor Sławomir Ławrynowicz, and adds: “Our integration into the EU also has its origins in the war, meaning the Second World War, which was the beginning of a whole series of reflections, often repressed, which should now see the light of day. Our foreign policy of the 1990s and our raison d’état at the time was a reaction to the Second World War, to the destruction that took place then, to the division of the world. The experience of war, but also the experience of communism, played a very big role in our thinking about joining the EU and NATO. This is how we differ from the so-called Old Europe, which started the integration process, and in this context, our experience can be useful for Ukraine.”
“Our research project shows the role of Poland as a leader in our region who leads by example. On the other hand, it shows Ukraine as a country that provides a huge impulse of energy to rethink and work through some of the mistakes of the past,” Riabchuk emphasizes.
Stability and Regularity
The project is interdisciplinary. It combines a historical perspective with an analysis of contemporary discourse. Riabchuk is responsible for the contemporary part. He also analyses the institutional arrangements necessary for Ukraine’s EU accession: what has been done so far in this regard, what still needs to be done, and how to do it better. Łukasiewicz analyzes historical discourses to show, among other things, key moments in the change of the Ukrainian narrative on the EU: starting from 2004, namely the first protests on the Kyiv Maidan and the first pro-European declarations, up to the culmination in 2022.
“The FNP grant has been the catalyst for our meeting and collaboration. Although we deal with similar issues, we look at them from different perspectives, which allows us to complement each other. When it became clear that we could do something together in response to the war, I wrote to Mykola and so our collaboration began. The FNP’s financial support provided to us makes it possible for this cooperation to be systematic,” explains Łukasiewicz.
“For me, the FNP grant is important not only because it allows me to work scientifically but also because it gives me stability in life, because in the current situation in Ukraine, I do not have a permanent job,” Riabchuk adds.
Confronting Theory and Practice
The researchers plan to present the results of their work at a conference they would like to organize on the occasion of Poland’s twentieth accession anniversary, namely in the spring of 2024. “For this event, we would like to invite both guests from Ukraine, namely people preparing for negotiations with the EU, and guests from the European Council, meaning people responsible for these negotiations on the EU side. In this way, we could confront our theoretical work with practice,” the researchers conclude.
Dr. Hab. Sławomir Łukasiewicz, Associate Professor at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin is a historian of the twentieth century, political scientist, and Europeanist. He works at the Department of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the Catholic University of Lublin. His research focuses on the history of the idea of European integration, with particular emphasis on the role of Polish emigration after 1939. His work also includes publications on comparative studies of political emigration from Central and Eastern Europe, the history of historiography, the history of Sovietology, and the history of civil intelligence of the Polish People’s Republic. He is currently researching Polish themes in European integration and the legacy of Polish thinking about the Soviet Union in the twentieth century.
Mykola Riabchuk, Ph.D., is a literary critic, essayist, and a doctor of literary theory and political science. He is a recognized authority on Ukrainian culture and domestic politics, as well as on the political transformation of the post-Soviet area. He is the co-founder of the Kyiv-based opinion-forming monthly Krytyka and the translator of Polish classics. For many years, he has been a regular guest lecturer at the Centre for East European Studies at the University of Warsaw. In 2022, he was awarded the Ukrainian Shevchenko National Prize.
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