WARSAW Waiting for a McKielbasa sandwich at an outlet in central Warsaw of the world’s most ubiquitous American fast food chain, the 29-year-old economist did not hesitate when asked where he would stand if asked to choose between the United States and Europe.
“America is a better partner for us and I trust America more than France or any other country,” said Maciek Wesolowski, joking that he was buying the McDonald’s sandwich, a Polish sausage on a hamburger bun, in honor of Polish-American friendship.
Poland, the largest and most economically promising of the 10 countries set to join the European Union next year, is unapologetic about its enthusiastic American allegiance and its vocal resistance to the current quest by traditional European powers, France and Germany, to establish their political independence from the United States. . . .
The Union now has 15 member nations, but with the addition next year of 10 mostly former Communist states, France and Germany may find their traditional dominance harder to maintain. Certainly, the very public admonition by President Jacques Chirac to the Central and East European candidate nations – who support the American position on war with Iraq – to keep silent rather than undermine European unity won France no friends in Poland.
“He is trying to treat the EU candidates as a French colony or a French suburb,” Wesolowski said over his McDonald’s sandwich.
Heh. Then there’s this:
Thanks from the United States to Poland for standing by us. Germany is living in a dream world on politics these days. I have urged President Bush and six American senators to move US troops out of Germany as much as possible and into countries like Poland and Hungary, if they would like that to happen.
Germany is simply too expensive to do business with these days. Its taxes, labour costs and consumer prices are all too high. Besides, the Middle East is the area of concern, and Poland and Hungary are closer anyway.
More and more we are seeing growing anti-German and anti-France views here and for good reason. I hope Poland and Hungary take up the slack as American consumers are quietly moving to boycott German and French products.
I think it’s the McDonald’s reference that will upset Chirac the most, though.