On 16 November 2022, Prof. Georges MINK, Chairholder of the European Civilization Chair at the College of Europe in Natolin, gave an online lecture entitled "Ukraine - Poland's dreamed neighbour" for the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center at Hokkaido University in Japan.
Abstract of the lecture:
After the end of communism, the new Polish elites are motivated to smooth out the potential for memory conflicts with Ukraine and to achieve a reconciliation of their vision of post-communist geopolitics. The attitude towards Ukraine, Poland's immediate neighbour, became a foreign policy priority in 1989.
The construction of the concept of the Strategic Partnership and then of the Eastern Partnership within the framework of the Community Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) developed after 2004 in the EU includes a symbolic component linked to the painful past of the two nations. This policy requires not only the removal of material obstacles or those related to European doxa, but also memorial obstacles, particularly representations of the painful past at the root of hostility between the two nations. What impact has the invasion of Russia against Ukraine with Poland on the frontline for the Polish-Ukrainian relation?