Forget London and Paris! Europe has other Cool Cities like Praha and Warszawa

1. Forget London and Paris! Europe has other Cool Cities like Praha and Warszawa € Modern European History Dr. James Palmitessa Cover of German weekly Der Spiegel, August 20, 2007

2. The Czech Republic is a relatively small country • Population : 10.3 million • Area: 77.3 thousand square km. • Capital: Prague (pop. 1.2 million in city limits/1.9 million in metro area, 496 square km.) • GDP Index: 79 • (100=EU Average)

3. How big are the EU countries? Surface area 1 000 km² 544.0 506.0 410.3 357.0 312.7 304.5 295.1 243.8 230.0 130.7 111.0 93.0 91.9 82.5 77.3 68.4 62.7 62.3 49.0 43.4 43.1 33.8 30.3 20.1 9.3 2.6 0.3 Portugal Romania Austria Bulgaria Hungary Greece Italy Ireland Spain Lithuania France Poland Finland Sweden Estonia Germany Czech Republic Denmark Latvia Slovakia Belgium Malta Luxemburg Netherlands United Kingdom Cyprus Slovenia

4. Poland is a relatively large country • Population: 38.2 million • Area: 312.7 1000 thousand square km • Capital: Warsaw (pop. 1.7 million in city limits, 2.8 million in metro area, 516.9 square km) • GDP Index 53 • (100=EU Average)

5. Czechs and Poles speak Slavic languages Czech Polish Dzieńdobry Dziekuje Piwo Do widzenia • Dobrý den (good day) • Děkuju (Thank you) • Pivo (beer) • Na shledanou (good bye) Other Slavic languages are Russian, Ukrainian, Slovenia (spoken in Slovenia) and Serbo-Croatian (spoken in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina)

6. View of Castle Hill with St. Vitus Cathedral and Prague Castle, Prague

7. Old Town Square with Mary-on-the-Teyn Church, Prague

8. Marszałkowska, Warsaw

9. Stare Miasto (Old City), Warsaw

10. Some Important Historical Developments over the last few hundred years Czech Republic Poland 1795-1918: Poland occupied by Prussia, Russia & Austria 1918: Poland Recreated Sept. 1, 1939: Germany invaded Poland setting off Second World War 1945: communists came to power 1980: Birth of Solidarity Movement 1981: Martial Law introduced 1989/90: Communist rule came to end 2004: Poland joined the European Union • 1620-1918: Bohemian Lands part of Austrian Empire • 1918: Czechoslovakia created • 1938: Germany annexed Czechoslovakia as Protectorate • 1945-48: German-speaking Czechoslovaks expelled • 1948: Communists elected to power • 1967-68: Prague Spring • Nov. 22, 1968: Invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw-pact troops • 1989: Velvet Revolution • 1993: Czechoslovakia split into Czech Republic and Slovak Republic • 2004: The Czech Republic and Slovak Republic joined the European Union

11. GDP per inhabitant: the spread of wealth GDP per inhabitants in Purchasing Power Standards, 2007 Index where the average of the 27 EU-countries is 100 280 144 131 129 127 123 121 118 117 113 113 104 102 100 94 89 87 79 77 75 67 66 63 58 56 53 38 37 Malta Czech Republic Ireland Sweden Portugal Estonia Hungary Slovakia Poland Austria Finland France Latvia Romania Bulgaria Spain EU-27 Cyprus Greece Belgium Germany Italy Denmark Slovenia Lithuania Netherlands Luxembourg United Kingdom

12. Joining the European Union has brought new opportunities but also challenges to the Czech Republic and Poland Cover of Czech weekly magazine Týden -- “Should we be afraid of the European Union?”

13. Interview with Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland(Der Spiegel, 11/2006) • Mr. President, since your election some people in Germany have been irritated about a new sharp tone coming from Warsaw: that the protection of Poland’s national interests will now be placed in the foreground. Does Poland feel itself as a equal partner in Europe? • In the West many thought that Poland does not have its own interests anymore and would simply join on to those of others. That is not going to happen. Other European countries represent their own interests with more bitter tones. • What do you mean? • In France there is the motto “economic patroitism” And Germany recently signed a pipe-line agreement in the east Baltic, which is against Polish Economics. We are allies of Germany, together in Nato and the EU – why are you building around us? • …Nations are a historical reality in Europe. They have different histories and joined the EU at different times and under different conditions. During the three years that I was mayor of Warsaw I always supported Poland’s membershp in the EU. But I experienced how we have to apply EU laws which were entirely unsuitable for our position.

14. Interview with Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland(Der Spiegel, 11/2006) • But the European Union must be something other than a bureaucratic … for your land? • One must keep n mind that states have now joined the union which for many decades did not have sovereignty, did not have their own states, like the Baltic countries. For these countries autonomy is especially important. I should als add the following: the biggest Euro-enthusiasts in our country – though naturally now all of them – are those who were especially deeply connected to the communist regime and didn’t want anything to do with the West. But I belong to those who view the return of Sovereingty in 1989 to be the most important thing in our lives, more important than my election as Polish President.

15. Interview with Václav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic(Der Spiegel, 11/2006) • Mr. President, zou are one of the sharpest EU-critics. You consider the Eu to be a orchestrated, bureaucratic formation – in short, for an undemocratic monstrosity. The Czech Republic has now been in the EU for two years. Has your membership harmed your land? • I never said that. I’ve said that the Czech Republic is an important part of Central Europe and we must participate in European integration. I am sure that the Czech Republic – at that time Czechoslovakia – would have been a founding member of the EU if it wasn’t for the communist putsch of 1948. • In the discussion about the EU Constitution, you said that you were “afraid of Europe.” The French and Dutch have now turned down that Constitution. Are you satisified about that? • Unfortunately not. I was only happy in the first few minutes, which the decision was announced. Now I see that we are in a dangerous position agaion. I see how the deepening of the EU cannot go forward without a Constitution, but rather becomes a hidden process of uniformity, and that is more dangerous. It is difficult to put the breaks on this process. Each day we receive new laws, new initiatives, new guidelines from Brussels, which push us in the direction of uniformity.

16. Interview with Václav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic(Der Spiegel, 11/2006) • Which signal from Brussels disturbs you the most in recent days? • It does not involve a single decision which is especially dangerous. There are hundreds of proclamations which come to us every day from the EU Headquarters in Brussels. One which is especially troublesome is the talk about a possible tax harmonization in Europe or the liberalization of service industries. I didn’t believe my ears when our own Czech Commissioner…introduced a bill for money from EU funds to be paid to victims of globalization. That is communism in its purest form – like in the days of Breschnew. In those days people were forced in the position of having to read in the newspapers what those on top had decided. I remember very well the feeling of powerlessness. • Are you criticizing a deficit in democracy, a growing distance between the political elite and the people? • Yes, above all it revolves around the political dimension of European Integration. That is one of the most important points – that is tied to our history, with our sensibility, even perhaps hypersensibility in this area.