— — Generation Lost & Found

No. 02 ASPEN.REVIEW 2017 CENTRAL EUROPE COVER STORIES Martin Buchtík, Jakub Dymek, Martin Ehl, Pavel Fischer, Oľga Gyárfášová, Szilárd Teczár POLITICS Małgorzata Fidelis ECONOMY Walter Isaacson CULTURE Jerzy Jarniewicz INTERVIEW Kenneth R. Weinstein Generation No. 02/2017 Lost & Found — Generation Lost & Found Lost Generation The Internet— Is Broken A Dangerous— Time of Chaos Generation Lost & Found No. 02 2017 ASPEN.REVIEW CONTENTS 04 FOREWORD Youth Forward or Backward? Jiří Schneider 06 EDITORIAL Don’t Blow Your Nose on the Floor Aleksander Kaczorowski 08 Let Us Have Our Dreams Jakub Dymek 16 Young Hungarians: A Nascent Political Generation Szilárd Teczár 22 INTERVIEW with Martin Buchtík: “Generation What” Lacks the Shared Experience of Tackling Some Society-Wide Challenge. Robert Schuster 30 The Rise of Radicalism Among Young People in Slovakia: Ca uses and Consequences Oľga Gyárfášová 36 Is It Possible to Turn the Tide? Pavel Fischer 47 COMMENT Between Two Extremes Martin Ehl 52 INTERVIEW with Kenneth R. Weinsten: Trump Knows More about Central Europe than He’s Given Credit For Jakub Majmurek 60 Right-Wing Populism and the New Morality: A Historical Reflection Małgorzata Fidelis 68 The EU in 2017 Ronald G. Asch 74 INTERVIEW with Klaus Bachmann: Only a Strong EU May Save Itself Łukasz Grzesiczak 81 The V4 as an Anti-German Coalition Hans Kundnani 86 Germany, Central Europe, and the EU after Brexit Adam Balcer 94 INTERVIEW with Nicolas Maslowski: A Dangerous Time of Chaos Tomasz Maćkowiak 100 COMMENT Is the Liberal World Order Seriously Threatened? Jiří Pehe 104 The Internet Is Broken. Here’s How to Fix It. Walter Isaacson 108 INTERVIEW with Fabian Zuleeg: The “Multi-Speed” Europe Scenario Is the Most Realistic One Konrad Niklewicz 116 Unconditional Basic Income Rafał Woś 122 COMMENT The End of History, Postponed Tomáš Klvaňa 126 I’m a poet and I know it. The Nobel Prize and Bob Dylan’s Literary Credentials Jerzy Jarniewicz 134 Where the Most Common Method of Contraception Is Prayer Patrycja Pustkowiak 140 How the TV Producers Transformed into the Producers of the Country Nelly Bekus ASPEN.REVIEW FOREWORD Dear Readers, Each generation faces their own specific challenges. The youth is usu- ally blamed by the elders for all vices in society. My generation viewed with deep suspicion how Communist ideologues formally pushed and praised the young generation while cementing a sclerotic system led by gerontocratic politburos. Twenty-eight years after liberation from that ideological yoke, the younger generation in Central Europe seems to be shaped more by the concerns of daily life than by the events of historic dimensions. Youth Forward Today’s youth lives in times seemingly free of these challenges but under growing pressure of economic competitiveness. Although young people enjoy more freedom in all directions and higher mobility in real and virtual space, it looks as if they maintain only a shallow sense of purpose and goal. Yet, this impression could be false. As Malgorzata Fidelis boldly claims while referring to Václav Havel: “There are times when the massive assault on hu- man values could become the source of strength for those who defend them.” The spontaneous activities of Central European students reacting to a need to help refugees on the Balkan route could be a source of hope. On the other hand, polls and surveys support the claim that young generation loses trust in politics, politicians, as well as institutions (including in- ternational organizations). Why are the young Czechs, Poles, Slovaks, and 04 Aspen.Review/Youthforward Hungarians rediscovering national conservatism as a hideout from Europe- an integration and a refuge from globalization? Why are the other ones leav- ing their homeland to seek fortune abroad? Moving to a global perspective there are more questions than answers. What will be the effects of Trump presidency and Brexit on Central Europe in general and on the relations between Germany and V4? Are we facing a return of geopolitics in Central Europe? In an interview, Ken Weinstein of the Hudson In- or Backward? stitute reassures that Central Europeans should not be concerned about Trump’s rapprochement with Putin over their heads. He said that weeks before the US retaliation to the chemical attack in Syria that came as a surprise to Moscow. The socio-economic interdependence between Germany and V4 remains one of the key topics to explore. In this issue, Hans Kundnani discovers a paradox that V4 is most efficient as an anti-German coalition while remaining deeply connected to German economy. At “Forum V4–Germany” (a joint project launched by the Aspen Institute Central Europe and Aspen Institute Germany) we will search for new ideas and explore how much is the dynamism of our relations inhibited by our inability to unleash the potential of cooperation among the young in Central Europe. More in the next issue. Stay connected! JIŘÍ SCHNEIDER Executive Director 05 ASPEN.REVIEW EDITORIAL Don’t Blow Your Nose on the Floor In The Good Soldier Švejk Jaroslav Hašek mentions a certain Pole who “kept aristocratically aloof, ignored everyone and played with his own hand, blowing his nose on the floor using two fingers, spreading the snot with the butt of his rifle, and then he deftly rubbed the butt against his trousers and from time to time muttered under his breath: ‘Holy Lady!’” If we didn’t know that the most famous Czech novel of all time was written almost 100 years ago, we could have thought that the author was writing about some Polish diplomat or politician from the ruling party. The persistence of stereotypes and patterns of behavior in our part of the world is truly unusual and should not be underestimated. For two years the Poles have been stubbornly proving that nothing has changed in their national character and that they can successfully compete for the title of the sick man of Europe. Nevertheless, neighborly schadenfreude is out of place. Like it or not, Poland is the largest country of Central Europe and its image influences the perception of the entire region, increasingly often called sim- ply Eastern Europe. Warsaw provides more than enough arguments to all those who wish to turn back time and divide Europe again into a better and a worse one. Only the elections in France and Germany separate us from the moment when be- longing to the eurozone will become the criterion of division. The Citizens 06 Aspen.Review/DontBlowYourNose of eurozone countries currently constitute 66.6% of EU inhabitants (what a satanic coincidence), and after Britain has left the EU they will enjoy an over- whelming majority of 79.3% (a qualified majority for taking decisions in the entire EU is 65% of the population and 55% of member states). And then the eight countries from outside the eurozone (with the exception of Denmark) will face a dramatic decision: namely whether to enter the zone regardless of the cost. In democracies, such a decision has to be taken by the citizens. While you can easily imagine that the Romanians, Croats, or Bulgarians would ac- cept the euro right away, it seems impossible that the Poles or Czechs would do it in the foreseeable future. Most of them are against it, and what is more, their real support for further European integration is negligible. The situation in Hungary is slightly different: most of the public and the government are willing to give up on the forint. Already in July 2016, the Hungarian finance minister announced in an interview for theMagyar Hírlap daily that his country would be ready to enter the eurozone by the end of the decade and expressed “great hope” that it would happen. Similar declaration of his Czech counterpart is unimaginable. As for the Polish finance minister, he said recently that Poland would start thinking about entering the eurozone in 10–20 years. Nine years ago, when I asked Donald Tusk, then a newly-appointed prime minister, when would Poland join the eurozone, he suggested that it would take place during his term in office. Perhaps he meant the presidency— the elections of the head of state will take place in 2020 after all, and it is quite likely that the current president of the European Council will participate in them as the joint candidate of the opposition. Seriously speaking, Tusk did nothing as prime minister and he will not start a losing battle now. Making the eurozone membership an element of the election campaign in Poland would be a perfect gift for Jarosław Kaczyński. Let us be realistic. The Poles and the Czechs will sooner leave the EU than enter the eurozone. In this situation, responsible policy in these countries should be to prevent our marginalization in the Union and strengthen European cooperation in every area where it is possible. Tusk will have a lot of things to do in Brussels, while politicians in Warsaw could, for a start, stop “keeping aristocratically aloof and blowing their noses on the floor.” ALEKSANDER KACZOROWSKI Editor in Chief 07 ASPEN.REVIEW JAKUB DYMEK COVER STORY YOUTH POLAND EU POLISH EMIGRATION EUROPEAN DREAM 08 Aspen.Review/PolishDreams How long can you keep telling people that they should be grateful for open borders, if they do not remember the reality without freedom of movement? The propaganda of success pursued by the pro-Union establishment had something of the subtlety of 20th-century authoritarian regimes. When Poland finalized the process of accession to the European 1) Pedał means both pedal and a homosexual in Polish Union, I was in middle school. Still, a few images from that period are deeply (translator’s note). etched in my memory—after all, it is not often that they tell you in school that you are witnessing a historical event and may take part in something more significant than the end-of-year gala.

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