Middle European Monologue

Back to the demand which appeared shortly after the Charlie Hebdo Paris attack - to review the Schengen treaty and populate European border check points again. 

I am against new border controls, of course. If we need more security on European level, let's talk about better European police cooperation, or about forming some sort of federal police forces.

Or if there would be a terrorist attack in München, would be the rest of Germany asking for a construction of border crossings between German Bundesländer? Why not? ...It would improve security..., terrorists would not go so freely from München to Berlin. That would totally make sense.

So please, don't debate about such nonsense on the European level! 

By train across Poland

It has been almost three years since one winter train travel across snowy Poland which encouraged me to take a deep look through the Polish railways’ discounts system and demand some changes in it. In January 2015 changes in the system are going to take place after negotiations between the European Commission and Polish authorities. What has happened in between?

  If you take a look at discounts offered by Polish railways (or other Polish public transport providers) you get immediately confused, I guess. I went through such experience as well and it came to my mind at that moment that probably everyone in Poland has to have some sort of discount (war veterans, blood donors, people born on a train [joke], etc.).

But no wonder that the student discount is available only for students of Polish universities. That is a common practice in many EU countries which is totally OK because it does not exclude other EU states nationals. (Anyone can become a student of a Polish university).

(Even though I am of the opinion that it is just a little bit more clever way how to disobey the basic EU ideas - because we all know that the EU citizens are not that mixed across countries so in the majority of cases the discount is still achievable only for local state nationals. But I am used to this practice and I would not protest if that would be the case I am going to describe).

  I found on the list one special student discount which applies only for citizens of Poland who study at a university in another country. This is no surprise in the case of Poland and its population spread all over Europe. There are for example many Poles who study in Berlin so those would not achieve in their home country the above mentioned usual student discount.

Here comes the problem. This special discount was intended only for citizens of Poland. Not even for people with permanent residency in Poland. Here I see very clear disobedience of basic EU rules. Why should have a Polish citizen studying at the University of Vienna a discount on a Polish train and an Austrian student of the same university not? (If we have the common EU rules against discrimination based on state citizenship)?

  E-mail to Polish railways

I knew that asking to change this discount in such a way that all EU students would reach the cheaper trains in Poland would be too ambitious.

So I asked by e-mail the Polish railways to change the sentence just a little bit so it would make the discount available also for other EU nationals with a permanent residency in Poland. I did not expect much. Actually I was not even sure if I read the meaning of the sentence correctly. My knowledge of Polish language is not that good. But what I received as an answer? Nothing. Not a single word.

That made me a little bit angry and got me thinking what to do next. I did not want to give up easily. But on the other hand the interpretation making me an injured party of a possible legal proceeding looked really wild. I did not have a permanent residency in Poland at that time so creating the needed feeling that I am in the case of this discount really geographically equal to Polish citizens was barely possible. The fact that I am a student of a university outside of Poland looked for me like a really weak argument for Polish legal system. And it would also take me too much effort and time for such a banal issue.

  SOLVIT

But I googled a little what else could be done and found super EU instrument called SOLVIT. That is a milder instrument to try if you want to avoid the demanding legal proceeding. You ask your country's SOLVIT office to solve the issues against EU law you have met. It is based on a common agreement so if the other side (state) does not agree on the solution (and on the existence of the problem), nothing can be really changed. Basically every country has its SOLVIT office. So your country’s office contact the SOLVIT office in the needed state and the office there then tries the best in its country to find some appropriate solution and improvement.

I asked Czech SOLVIT to solve it but it did not help. The Polish side did not agree that anything wrong happened. Which was not that surprising after ignoring my e-mail and because of not having the permanent residency in Poland. So my argumentation was weaker than it would be if I would move to Poland.

But I was advised that I can report cases of a state's legislation which are not in conformity with the EU law to the European Commission. You can not demand anything but the commission knows about the case at least. So I did that.

  The Commission

And after almost three years after my journey took place the so called EU Pilot (an instrument ran by the Commission) helped. The Commission agreed with Polish authorities on a solution and this student discount should be available also to other EU citizens with a permanent residency in Poland since January 2015.

If they would not agree the Commission could use more hardcore formal infringement proceedings but I guess the Commission would not go through it for such a banal and unimportant case.

I am satisfied. From January 2015 you can be e.g. a student of a Czech university and Czech national with a permanent residency in Cieszyn (Polish border town) and have the same discount for a train as your Polish neighbor studying at the same university.

  Why did I go through it?

I know that I have called my case as banal. So why to bother? Because I think it is a small picture of the bigger and more important reality. I do not think that there was any bad intention in the creation of this discount. There were even good intentions. Someone wanted to support Polish students who want to move to other EU countries. Nice example of good pro-EU politics. But it did not probably come to anybody's mind that there could be such a case (other EU state national who would be living in Poland and studying across a border). Why?

Because it is probably really rare. But if I want a truly united Europe, such a practice should not be that strange. And if we even now unconsciously create rules which goes against such a normal behavior (Europe without borders), if we still have those borders in mind, we can not move on. How can we overcome old borders if we create new ones even in cases intended against such practice?

  I would be extremely happy if Polish railways would answer positively to my e-mail already two years ago. Something like: "Sorry, we have not thought about such case, we are going to change the sentence." So much effort would be saved. The bureaucrats in Brussels could work on less banal cases. But nobody cared to answer to their customer two years ago. So here we are, the sentence is hopefully going to be changed, just later and after much longer discussions.

  So at the end I would like to thank Polish authorities who have decided to overcome another small border in Europe. It is a great decision. Thanks! I really mean it.

But there are many other borders to overcome, much more important issues which prevent Europeans from crossing the borders, like non-existing single postal market, single telecommunication market, etc. Why would anyone move across the border if it means much more expensive postal and phone services if he or she wants to stay in contact with the home across the border?

There I see next tasks for European integration. One of the purposes of the existence of the EU and its bureaucracy. And the Commission really helped me in my case and helps in many other cases as well. That would be impossible if we would live in Europe based on non-binding bilateral agreements and full sovereignty as some people are asking for.

Yes, the other way (of fully sovereign states) is possible as well. Some people could live in that kind of Europe without problems. But only if they want to live in their state and go across the border just for vacation. If I want to live in the whole Europe, then I need some sort of Brussels. No matter if in today’s form or in some more federal one (as I would find more democratic and steady).

Tell Me Where the Germans Are | Film looks at several figures in order to explore the post-war relationship between Germans and Czechs... | A film on the Doc Alliace Films portal

I have jumped on a crowdy train today. The train staff has informed us (new passengers) that if we do not have a seat reservation we are unlucky because it travels across whole Europe and is crowdy.

If you missed the debate two weeks ago you have another chance tomorrow on May 15 at 21:00 (9 PM) CEST. Probably the last bigger debate before the elections.

Online streaming right here: http://www.eurovisiondebate.tv/ or you can watch at one of these tv and radio stations. In Czechia at ČRo Plus, in Austria at ORF3, in Slovakia at Jednotka.