While seeking a more subtle tool than a hammer, Poland is agonising about how to behave as a full-fledged member-state of the EU, writes Derek Scally
Polish is a notoriously difficult language to master, yet the word for compromise is relatively straightforward: kompromis. There was a lot of talk of kompromis in the Presidential Palace in Warsaw last week when government ministers, accession officials and leading intellectuals met to discuss the question on the lips of the rest of Europe: what sort of partner will Poland be after EU accession?
Judging from the animated palace discussion, the Poles are anxious to achieve a kompromis but domestic political realities mean it might be easier said than done.
There is still a bitter taste in Polish mouths over "Nice or Death", the strategy devised by the Polish opposition and adopted last December in Brussels by government officials, who said it would be irresponsible to agree a voting deal which Poles would later reject in a referendum.
Now leading Polish EU officials sing a different tune, namely that "Nice or Death" had another purpose entirely: to make an impact.
"It was clear that, to be listened to, Poland had to be bold. We had to say something in a manner that would leave no doubt what we think. Only then could we be taken seriously," says Mr Jarolsaw Pietras, European Integration Secretary of State.
He shrugs off the suggestion that the approach might have done more harm than good by alienating potential EU allies. "We are hammering out our place in the EU," he says with a smirk, before admitting that "a hammer is not the most sophisticated tool".
The Polish government still defends its "hammer" approach in December but has made it clear that, in future EU negotiations, it is hunting around in the diplomatic toolbox for more delicate instruments.
Mr Wlodzimierz Cimoszewic, the Foreign Minister, called the collapse of talks a "sobering experience" no one wanted to experience again. But one of his deputies was more philosophical, saying the collapse of the talks taught Poland not to over-estimate its power and influence in the Union again.
"Without this, discussion would have to face up to challenge in years to come when the lack of balance [in the EU\] would come to the forefront," said Mr Pawel Swieboda, director of the EU division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski adopted a sharper tone, saying Poland would have to drop its "parochial" hang-ups and phobias about its place in Europe and become a constructive partner.
Mr Jan Kulakowski, Poland's chief EU negotiator, agreed, saying the time was long overdue for Poland to find allies in the EU. "Without allies we have no chance of securing Poland's interests in the EU," he said. "We will need allies because there are very few dimensions where we can go it alone."
The academics at the conference, "Strong Poland in a Strong Europe", attacked the government for taking a hammer to the Brussels talks. Nice was a niche even in December, they argued, but only Poland failed to notice that. "Now we have to know how to bid, to measure our strength to our ambitions and goals," said one academic.
A notable absentee from the discussion over Poland's future in the EU was the Prime Minister, Mr Leszek Miller. On Saturday, he will lead Poland into the EU in what will undoubtedly be the high point of his political career.
But Mr Miller has announced he will resign on Sunday, plunging Poland into political uncertainty before the bubbles have gone out of the accession champagne.
When Mr Miller came to power in 2001, his supporters carried him on their shoulders singing: "May he live 100 years".
Three years on and 97 to go, he's been driven out of office by unpopular reforms and high unemployment, a steady stream of scandals and yet another fragmentation of the Polish political landscape.
Unlike Irish organisations, a split is not always the first item on the agenda of Polish political parties but just as inevitable. Firstly, Mr Miller threw out one of his coalition partners, then 27 deputies abandoned his Democratic Left Party (SLD) to form their own Social Democratic party.
Mr Miller's likely successor as prime minister, Prof Marek Belka, will do his best to keep the government afloat in the EU, pushing through €11 billion austerity measures and trimming the 52 per cent budget deficit.
But an uncertain future awaits the ruling SLD in elections likely to be held next spring or even sooner, if the minority administration cannot find parliamentary support.