Głównym celem artykułu jest przedstawienie roli mniejszości narodowych w relacjach międzypaństwowych.
Szczególnego wymiaru nabiera ona w przypadku sąsiadujących ze sobą państw,
których skomplikowana historia doprowadziła do powstania skupisk poszczególnych narodowości
w regionach przygranicznych. Zachodząca od początku lat 90. XX w. na obszarze środkowej
Europy transformacja ustrojowa, przeobraziła relacje polityczne i ekonomiczne pomiędzy poszczególnymi
państwami tego regionu, które dodatkowo komplikuje zróżnicowany stopień zaawansowania
procesów integracji wschodnich sąsiadów Polski. Zmianie uległa także sytuacja, zwłaszcza
polityczno-prawna, mniejszości narodowych, które – odmiennie niż w okresie komunistycznym
– stały się istotnym elementem, niejednokrotnie konfliktogennym, wzajemnych relacji
międzypaństwowych.
In the early 1990s, significant changes in the political and geopolitical situation in
Central and Eastern Europe occurred: the collapse of communist rule, the unification of
Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The
creation, over a short time, of a number of independent nation-states in the immediate
vicinity of Poland had a vast influence on individual national minorities, especially those
living near the borders. There were huge changes to the political and economic relations
between democratic Poland and its newly independent neighbours and, to a large extent,
between individual nations, now divided by borders. The process of expanding the area
of European integration began, which led, after a dozen or so years, to the inclusion of
some Central and Eastern European countries in the NATO and EU structures, while
leaving some of those countries outside the zone of political, economic and military
integration, thus creating new division lines in the new political and legal reality.
One consequence of the contemporary processes of political, economic and military
integration of the European continent is the strengthening of its division into the Western
Europe (in its widest meaning) and the Eastern Europe (not included in the integration
process). At the Polish border with Belarus and Ukraine, the line of the modern division,
strengthened in the literal (technical measures to protect the borders) and legal sense
(visa regulations) overlaps with the civilisation, cultural and religious division line that
has been shaped over the ages. Despite the claims from the government in Warsaw of
“Polish eastern policy”, we can see a clear turn towards “western policy”. In political,
military and economic sense, Poland is clearly facing west, which results in turning
away from its eastern neighbours, which is particularly disadvantageous for political and
geopolitical reasons. Despite spectacular attempts by various governments to revive the
cooperation, especially with Ukraine and Lithuania, Poland does not currently have any
arguments, especially economic or financial ones, to conduct an effective, pragmatic
eastern policy, and not a policy based on historical sentiments.
When we compare the contemporary ethnic structure and national policy of Poland
and its eastern neighbours, we can see clear asymmetry in both quantitative and legalinstitutional
aspects. There is currently a markedly smaller population of Ukrainians,
Belarusians and Lithuanians living in Poland than the Polish population in the territories
of our eastern neighbours. At the same time, the national minorities in Poland enjoy
wider rights and better conditions to operate than Poles living in Ukraine, Belarus and
Lithuania.