A coalition of 12 Central European countries believes the region should be more fully integrated to provide a clear voice beyond the traditional Euro-Atlantic community, one of its leading figures suggested on Mar. 8.
The Three Seas Initiative, which began in 2016, will need to overcome East-West attitudes dating from both the Cold War and the 2008 economic crisis to create a fresh North-South voice, said Krzysztof Szczerski, Poland’s secretary of State and chief of President Andrzej Duda’s Cabinet.
“The main idea is to unlock Central Europe’s economies,” Szczerski explained during remarks at the Heritage Foundation. “The idea of starting this intensive cooperation came out of several countries’ leaders recognizing the deficits we need to overcome. We think Central Europe should become part of this as a good economic and business partner. It’s not just another political initiative.”
The initiative takes its name from the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black seas, which adjoin this group of countries. Szczerski said it strives to emphasize three other “C”s: connectivity, complementary, and commercial.
It’s not contrary to European integration, but intends to function within the European Union, to which all of its members belong, he emphasized. The countries—Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia—have more than 100 million people and a $1.2 trillion gross domestic product, Szczerski said.
They also import more than 14 million cu m/year of natural gas, he added. “Security matters to us,” Szczerski said. “All the countries recognized how important it is to diversify their supply sources.”
An LNG terminal in Poland, which recently received its first shipment from the US, and a grid being built to move electricity from other EU countries to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are among member countries’ flagship projects, he said.
Attracting outside interest
“This won’t take place in a vacuum. Central Europe is attracting interest from outside partners,” Szczerski said. “There’s huge interest from China and 16 other countries, as well as Western Europe, particularly Germany. This is a region that’s stable, safe, and democratic which is trying to find support from like-minded countries like the US.”
Russia, by its proximity, also remains present, he added. Its clear strategy is to create instability, Szczerski said. “It may be time to reexamine classical definitions of war and peace because borders are changing within Europe without war being declared,” he said.
Szczerski said he was troubled by some European officials saying Three Seas nations were ready to dump cheaper labor into countries farther west. “It’s disturbingly contrary to the free movement of goods and people—principles on which the EU was founded,” he said.
