The Visegrad Group: a vision of Central Europe. Conversation with Lech Walesa

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29105/pgc8.15-7

Keywords:

Central Europe, Visegrad Group, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, Foreign Policy of Mexico

Abstract

This work seeks to present, based on a direct testimony, a readable and updated vision of the concept of Central Europe, as a differentiated subregion in the context of the European Union.

To understand the construction of a new Central Europe after the end of the communist era - characterized today by liberal democracies and consolidated market economies with great potential - is one of the most significant challenges of Mexico's foreign policy. The instrumental concept that guides this work is the construction and functioning of the Visegrad Group, formed in 1991 and constituted by Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary as the clearer and most consistent political and cooperation expression in Central Europe today. The reflection presented in this work has as its starting point a direct dialogue between the authors with one of the architects of the Visegrad Group and a central actor in the end of communism in Europe: the famous worker leader and former Polish president Lech Walesa. Thirty years after the creation of the Visegrad Group, it is essential to know his perspective.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Alejandro Negrín, Embajada de México en Polonia

Maestro en Relaciones Internacionales por el Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset de Madrid. Embajador de México en Polonia, Email: anegrin@sre.gob.mx. Orcid: 0000-0002-8583-6514.

Pablo Lozano, Embajada de México en Polonia, Polonia

Maestro en Negocios Europeos por la Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales du Nord. Jefe de Cancillería en la Embajada de México en Polonia, Email: plozano@sre.gob.mx. Orcid: 0000-0003-4026-8557

References

Bass, T. (2021). (enero 22). 2021-2030, la décennie de l’Europe centrale. https://www.lopinion.fr/edition/international/2021-2030-decennie-l-europe-centrale-234040

Borger, J. (2011). (April 04). Lech Walesa: The man who 'never made a Mistake' sees errors all around. (The Guardian). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/04/lech-walesa-sees-errors-all-around-poland

Comas, J. (1983). (11 de diciembre). Walesa vivió desde Gdansk la entrega del Nobel de la Paz entre periodistas y champaña (El País). https://elpais.com/diario/1983/12/11/internacional/439945207_850215.html

Daniška, J. (2018). Visegrad: From intellectual idea to political reality. International Issues & Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs, 27(1-2), 43-53. Doi: 10.2307/26592068

Dietl, M. (2021). (Enero 22). L’Europe centrale et son potentiel de forte croissance. https://www.lopinion.fr/edition/international/l-europe-centrale-potentiel-forte-croissance-tribune-marek-dietl-234039

Duda, A. (2021). (enero 22). L’Europe centrale, comme une communauté des aspirations. https://www.lopinion.fr/edition/international/l-europe-centrale-communaute-aspirations-tribune-d-andrzej-duda-234030

Engelberg, S. (1990). (Diciembre 10). Poland elects WALESA president in landslide (The New York times). https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/10/world/poland-elects-walesa-president-in-landslide.html

France 24 (2019). Walesa to Trump: US no longer moral, political world leader. https://www.france24.com/en/20190829-walesa-to-trump-us-no-longer-moral-political-world-leader

Garton Ash, T. (1999). The Puzzle of Central Europe. The New York Review of Books.

Gera, V. (2018). (diciembre 6). Poland’s Lech Walesa wears protest T-shirt to Bush funeral (AP). https://apnews.com/article/51266ab4a3dc4433b0c25d1637cad0e8

Kaminski, A., & Kurczewsha, J. (1991). Letter from Poland. Government and Opposition, 26(2), 215-228. Retrieved March 16, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44482574 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.1991.tb01134.x

Lee, C. & Bideleux, Robert. (2012). East, West, and the Return of 'Central': Borders Drawn and Redrawn. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199560981.013.0004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199560981.013.0004

Milan, K. (1984). the Tragedy of Central Europe (Ed. 31. 7). The New York Review of Books.

Paz, O. (1983). Crónica de la libertad. Tiempo Nublado, Seix Barral.

Pehe, J. (2002). Central European identity in politics. http://www.pehe.cz/prednasky/2002/central-european-identity-in-politics

RPP Noticias (2021). Lech Walesa criticó el muro fronterizo de Donald Trump: “La pregunta es qué vas a construir"

https://rpp.pe/peru/actualidad/donald-trump-nobel-de-la-paz-lech-walesa-critico-muro-fronterizo-la-pregunta-es-que-vas-a-construir-noticia-1163351?ref=rpp

Simpson, P. (1996). The Troubled Reign of Lech Wałesa in Poland. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 26(2), 317-336. Retrieved March 16, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27551580

Sinnhuber, K. A. (1954). Central Europe: Mitteleuropa: Europe Centrale: An Analysis of a Geographical Term. Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers), 20, 15. https://doi.org/10.2307/621131 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/621131

Stanglin, D. (1980). (noviembre 30). Personality Spotlight: Lech Walesa -- Polish labor leader: He challenged communist leaders -- and won. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1980/11/30/Personality-Spotlight-Lech-Walesa-Polish-labor-leaderNEWLNHe-challenged-communist-leaders-and-won/1711344408400/

Terenzani, M. (2010). A common but contentious history (Visegrad Group). https://www.visegradgroup.eu/other-articles/common-but-contentious

UNESCO (2021). Gdansk - Town of Memory and Freedom. https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/530/

Visegrad Group (2021). Declaration of the Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of Poland and the Slovak Republic on the Occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the Visegrad Group. https://www.visegradgroup.eu/calendar/2021/declaration-of-the-prime

Visegrad Group (2021). Havel, Václav: Speech in the Polish Parliament (Sejm). https://www.visegradgroup.eu/the-visegrad-book/havel-vaclav-speech-in

Visegrad Group (2021). Wałęsa, Lech: From Solidarność (Solidarity) to Cooperation and Integration. https://www.visegradgroup.eu/the-visegrad-book/walesa-lech-from

Werkhäuser, N. (2004). (Mayo 26). Interview with Lech Walesa (DW). https://www.dw.com/en/interview-with-lech-walesa/a-1217536

Wprost (2011). Wałęsa: gdyby nie Havel, Polacy zostaliby sami. https://www.wprost.pl/przeglad-prasy/285120/walesa-gdyby-nie-havel-polacy-zostalibysami.html?utm_source=wprost.pl&utm_medium=recommendation&utm_campaign=autoload-return

Published

2021-11-15

How to Cite

Negrín, A., & Lozano, P. (2021). The Visegrad Group: a vision of Central Europe. Conversation with Lech Walesa. Política, Globalidad Y Ciudadanía, 8(15), 130. https://doi.org/10.29105/pgc8.15-7