EUobserver opinion: Eastern Europe 'must not deny help' to refugees
Auteur: Stefan Batory Foundation
We are facing a humanitarian crisis on an enormous scale. Hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa are attempting to reach Europe in search of safety, hope, and the chance to lead a normal life. Not so long ago, we were the ones knocking on Europe's door.
We must not deny them our help. Regrettably, there are many in our region who disagree. After 1989, there were doubts in the European Community regarding the capacity of Central European countries, from the Baltic States through Romania and Bulgaria, to integrate with the West, owing to our history, political traditions, and the state of our economies.
Yet, our part of Europe has not been the principal cause of the threats to the Union in this difficult decade.
But this rift within a united Europe resurfaces today. This time it has a moral dimension. It is true, we are not accountable for the instability and collapse of refugees' home countries. We are not the ones who have turned them into states plagued by incessant fear, where people are at risk of violent death, and where human life is 'solitary, poor, brutish, and short.'
Unlike the former colonial and imperial powers that took in large numbers of immigrants after the Second World War, we have little experience of co-existing with people of different cultures, from far-off lands.
Nonetheless, as human beings, we have a duty to show compassion and to provide them with assistance. This is also our duty as Europeans. The European community was founded on the principle of solidarity. Today we must not refuse to take joint responsibility for the Union, nor turn a blind eye to human suffering and the situation of countries most affected by the rising tide of migration.
In refusing to help, we deny the idea of European solidarity. Furthermore, we undermine the solidarity that other nations have shown towards our countries. That would erode the foundations on which, for the past 25 years, we have been building our security, our prospects for development and our hope of escaping the historical tribulations of war, foreign rule, and poverty.
In the name of our humanity, our principles and values, we call upon the authorities and people of our region to demonstrate practical solidarity towards refugees so that they may find safe haven in our midst and enjoy the freedom to choose their own future.
Signatories:
Bronisław Komorowski, president of Poland from 2010 to 2015
Aleksander Kwaśniewski, president of Poland from 1995 to 2005
Jerzy Baczyński, editor-in-chief of the "Polityka" weekly, Poland
Gordon Bajnai, former prime minister, Hungary
Mirosław Bałka, sculptor, Poland
Zuzana Bargerova, lawyer, Human Rights League, Slovakia
Zygmunt Bauman, sociologist, University of Leeds, Poland-Great Britain
Igor Blaževič, founder of One World Festival
Uldis Bērziņš, poet and interpreter, Latvia
Henryka Bochniarz, president of Konfederacja Lewiatan, Poland
Michał Boni, member of European Parliament, former minister of administration and digitalization, Poland
Marek Borowski, senator, former finance minister, vice prime minister and Marshal of the Sejm
Bogdan Borusewicz, marshall of the Senate, Poland
Martin Bútora, sociologist, adviser to the president, Slovakia
Bogusław Chrabota, editor-in-chief of the "Rzeczpospolita" daily, Poland
Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, former prime minister, Poland
Liudas Dapkus, deputy editor-in-chief of the "Lietuvos rytas" daily, Lithuania
Aleš Debeljak, poet and essayist, Slovenia
Pavol Demeš, former minister of foreign affairs, Slovakia
Tibor Dessewffy, president of DEMOS Hungary, Hungary
Ivaylo Ditchev, professor of social science, writer, Bulgaria
Magda Faltová, director, Association for Integration and Migration, Czech Republic
Władysław Frasyniuk, former dissident and member of parliament, Poland
Rajko Grlić, director, Croatia
István Gyarmati, diplomat, Hungary
Tomáš Halík, theologian and writer, Czech Republic
Agnes Heller, philosopher, Hungary
Agnieszka Holland, director, Poland
Štefan Hríb, editor-in-chief, ".týždeň." weekly, Slovakia
Michal Hvorecký, writer, Slovakia
Ivars Ījabs, political scientist, Latvia
Josef Jařab, former senator, rector emeritus of Palacký University in Olomous, Czech Republic
Leszek Jażdżewski, editor-in-chief of the "Liberté!" quarterly, Poland
Jerzy Jedlicki, historian of ideas, former dissident, Poland
Jana Juráňová, writer, Slovakia
Aleksander Kaczorowski, journalist and essayist, Poland
Éva Karádi, editor-in chief of the "Magyar Lettre Internationale" quarterly, Hungary
Dávid Korányi, former undersecretary of state, deputy director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, Hungary-United States
János Kornai, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University and Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
András Kováts, director, Menedék - Hungarian Association for Migrants, Hungary
Dominika Kozłowska, editor-in-chief of the "Znak" monthly, Poland
Ivan Krastev, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Bulgaria
Marcin Król, historian of ideas, University of Warsaw, Poland
Andrius Kubilius, former prime minister, Lithuania
Jarosław Kuisz, editor-in-chief of the "Kultura Liberalna" internet weekly, Poland
Ewa Kulik-Bielińska, director of the Stefan Batory Foundation, chairman of the European Foundation Centre
Tomasz Lis, editor-in-chief of the "Newsweek Polska" weekly, Poland
Ondřej Liška, former minister of education, chairman of the Green Party, Czech Republic
Ewa Łętowska, former ombudsman, Poland
Vita Matiss, political analyst, essayist, Latvia
Jiří Menzel, director, Czech Republic
Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of the "Gazeta Wyborcza" daily, Poland
Piotr Mucharski, editor-in-chief of the "Tygodnik Powszechny" weekly, Poland
Alvydas Nikžentaitis, president of Lithuanian National Historians Committee, Lithuania
Zbigniew Nosowski, editor-in-chief of the "Więź" monthly , Poland
Janina Ochojska, president of Polish Humanitarian Action, Poland
Andrzej Olechowski, former finance minister and minister of foreign affairs, Poland
Jurica Pavičić, writer, Croatia
Marta Pardavi, co-chair, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Hungary
Solomon Passy, former minister of foreign affairs, Bulgaria
Jiří Pehe, political scientist and writer, Czech Republic
Petr Pithart, former prime minister, Czech Republic
Adam Pomorski, president of the Polish PEN Club, Poland
Wojciech Przybylski, editor-in-chief "Respublica Nowa" and "Eurozine", Austria-Poland
László Rajk jr., architect, designer and political activist, Hungary
Rein Raud, author and cultural theorist, Estonia
Adam Daniel Rotfeld, former minister of foreign affairs, Poland
Martin Rozumek, director, Organization for Aid to Refugees, Czech Republic
Andrzej Seweryn, theatre actor and director, Poland
Sławomir Sierakowski, director of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Poland
Martin Milan Šimečka, writer, journalist, Slovakia-Czech Republic
Marta Šimečková, journalist, interpreter, Slovakia
Karel Schwarzenberg, former minister of foreign affairs, Czech Republic
Aleksander Smolar, chairman of the Stefan Batory Foundation, Poland
Ladislav Snopko, playwright, former minister of culture, Slovakia
Andrzej Stasiuk, writer, Poland
Petruška Šustrová, former dissident, Czech Republic
Jerzy Szacki, sociologist, University of Warsaw, Poland
Małgorzata Szczęśniak, set designer, Poland
Monika Sznajderman, editor, Wydawnictwo Czarne, Poland
Soňa Szomolányi, political scientist and sociologist, Slovakia
Erik Tabery, editor-in-chief of the "Respekt" weekly, Czech Republic
Béla Tarr, director, Hungary
Stefan Tafrov, diplomat, human rights activist, Bulgaria
Vesna Teršelič, director of Documenta - Centre for Dealing with the Past, Slovenia
Róża von Thun und Hohenstein, member of European Parliament, Poland
Dubravka Ugrešić, poet and essayist, Croatia
Rimvydas Valatka, journalist, former member of parliament, Lithuania
Magdaléna Vášáryová, member of parliament, Slovakia
Tomas Venclova, poet, Lithuania
Krzysztof Warlikowski, theatre director, Poland
Jakub Wygnański, chairman of the board, Unit for Social Innovation and Research - Shipyard, Poland
Adam Zagajewski, poet and essayist, University of Chicago, Poland-United States
Péter Zilahy, writer, Hungary
Andrzej Zoll, former president of the Constitutional Tribunal, Poland