If Europe is united, what unites us today? What do Europeans from the east and west of our continent have in common? What is the principle which unites us? What are our common values?

We are not a community of fate. We have different historical experiences. Nearly all the countries between Russia and Germany have a long period of non-existence, which has been experienced only recently. This applies to Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia, Romania, Moldova, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. The awareness of how fragile independence is has been inscribed in our cultural code. That is why, our attitude toward Muslim waves of immigration or the centralist ambitions of Euro bureaucrats is so different from the West.

We are not a community of remembrance. We still remember the horror and misery of communism, which Western countries have not experienced. Most of our anti-communist heroes are not heroes for them. Marxism is not the hope of humanity for us, but rather a blind alley. That is why we are particularly sensitized to utopian projects of the social engineering.

Are we a community of values? The results of the researches conducted by the reputable sociological resort Pew Research Center, published more than a month ago, say a great deal about it. They were carried out between 2015 and 2017 on a sample of 56,000 respondents in 34 countries of Western, Central and Eastern Europe. The questions concerned the sphere of values, and their results - reflected on a geographical map - show the radical division between east and west of our continent in axiological matters. Interestingly, the borderline runs exactly where the Iron Curtain was located three decades ago.

To illustrate the phenomenon, let us quote just three questions. Are you in favour of or against legal „marriages” of homosexuals? Sweden (88% for - 7% against), Denmark (86 - 9), the Netherlands (86 - 10), Belgium (82 - 10), Spain (77 - 13), Great Britain (77 - 20), Germany (75 - 23). Among Western European countries, Italy has the lowest support for „homosexuals” (59 - 38).

The situation in the east is the opposite. Let us list a few countries: Moldova (5% vs. 92%), Ukraine (9 - 85), Lithuania (12 - 85), Estonia (23 - 71), Hungary (27 - 54), Poland (32 - 59).

A similar division can be observed in the case of the question: Would you accept a Muslim as a member of your own family? Acceptance is highest in the west of the continent: the Netherlands - 88%, Norway - 82, Denmark - 81, Sweden - 80, Belgium - 77, Spain - 74, Portugal - 70, France - 66. It is lowest in the east: e.g. in the Czech Republic - 12%, Lithuania - 16, Hungary - 21, Ukraine - 25, Poland - 33. A similar situation occurs when we ask Europeans whether Christianity is an important element of their national identity. For example, Romanians (74% for -25% against), Bulgarians (66 - 33), Poles (64 - 33), Croats (58 - 42). The opposite opinion is presented by: the Swedes (15% versus 84%), Belgians (19 - 80), French (32 - 65), Germans (34 - 65) and British (34 - 64).

In this case, the spiritual map of Europe does not present itself so uniformly, because we still have a few western nations, where Christianity still remains an important factor of national identity (e.g. for the Portuguese or Italians), as well as several eastern nations, where it is no longer important (e.g. Latvians, Estonians or Czechs).

Similar results are obtained for other questions. They show that Europeans from the East and West are no longer united by a community of values. It is not a Christian religion, nor is it a traditional morality, nor is it a normal family. We are increasingly moving away from each other in fundamental matters.

So what unites us? We invariably hear from politicians ‘European values’. When we ask for clarification, the most common words are tolerance and openness. The problem is that these concepts are understood differently here and there.

During his pilgrimage to Poland in 1997 John Paul II said during his homily in Gniezno:

The wall dividing Europe collapsed. Fifty years after the outbreak of World War II, its effects ceased to be felt on our continent.

Soon afterwards, however, he added:

Isn’t it possible to say that after the fall of one wall, the visible one, another wall, the invisible wall that still divides our continent, the wall that runs through human hearts, has been exposed even more? (…) There is still a long way to the true unification of the European continent. There will be no unity of Europe until it is a community of spirit.

But there is a question: what spirit? The invisible wall of which the Pope spoke will only disappear when Europe becomes a community of values. But what values? If we are to be one, someone has to convince others of their own values. Who is going to convince whom?

Grzegorz Górny - Reporter, essayist, publicist, director, film and television producer. Founder and editor-in-chief of the quarterly „Fronda”. (1994-2005 and 2007-2012). Co-author and producer of several TV cycles for TVP1, TVP2, TVP Polonia, TVP Historia, TV Puls, Polsat. In 2005-2006, he was the editor-in-chief of the weekly „Ozon”. Author of over 30 books, he has also published 24 foreign editions in English (6 books in the USA), Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Hungarian, Croatian, Slovenian, Bulgarian. Winner of many journalistic, film and book awards (e.g. Grand Press, Phoenix and J. Zieleński SDP award). Awarded the Knight’s Cross of Merit by the President of Hungary. Currently, he is a columnist for the weekly „Sieci” and the wpolityce.pl portal. He runs Klub Tójki in the 3rd PR Program.

Tłum. KJ