Fifth Scholarly Panel : European Civil Society and Cooperation
Chair: Dr. Vladimir Cherevan

The Roman Catholic Church and Poland 's Accession to the EU
Mirella Eberts
Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Canada

The long awaited 'return to Europe' has been the de facto motto of Poland's post-1989 democratization process. The post-1989 Polish governments have been eager to bring the country into the European Union (EU). But the openly evoked desire for the country's 'return to Europe' has not been without its own set of questions and challenges from variety of sources, including the influential Roman Catholic Church. When trying to understand the EU politics in the context of the Polish case, there is much to be gained from taking into account the Church's position on the matter. First, the Church emerged from the communist period probably as the most powerful institution in the country and its influence carried important implications for the shape and direction of Polish democracy. The sheer size of its membership and the visible institutional presence make it rather difficult to overlook the Church's place in the debate on Poland's EU membership. Second, one of the crucial roadblocks to Poland's EU membership has been its agricultural sector, and Poles engaged in this sector of the economy are a largely devout and important base of the Church's membership. Therefore, the Church is not indifferent to the concerns of the country's rural population, and the Church hierarchy plays an important role in responding to any Euro-skeptic voices coming from its rural followers. Third, the (in)famous Radio Maryja and other nationalist Catholic groups are hotbeds of Euro-skepticism in Poland, and their direct or indirect connections to the Church are factors worth our attention. Finally, the Church in Poland belongs to the universal Roman Catholic Church, headed by the Roman Pontiff, John Paul II. The Roman Catholic Church has been interested in the European integration project from its early stages. This is perhaps not surprising at all since European integration project was conceived largely as an idea rooted in the European Christian heritage and the Christian beliefs of its founding fathers, mainly Konrad Adenaur (1876-1967), Alcide de Gasperi (1881-1954), and Robert Schuman (1886-1963). Since 1970, the Holy See has had an official representative in Brussels, and since 1980, the Church has had an official representation of the member states' Episcopates, the Commission des Episcopats de la Communaute Europeenne (COMECE). In fact, there is a diverse set of Catholic interests operating vis-à-vis the European Union institutions and its decision making processes. In other words, there is certainly "Catholic lobbying" going on in Brussels. The connection between the Polish Church and the variety of Catholic groups operating at the European level, and the impact of opinions and directives coming from the Vatican on the Polish Church's attitude toward the EU are underdeveloped topics in the European politics literature. I think that these do merit our attention if we are to have a more solid understanding of both the EU membership dynamics in Poland and the complexity of European integration in general.
The aim of this paper is to explain the Polish Church's attitude toward the EU and its role in the enlargement politics. First, the paper provides an overview of the position of the Holy See, and especially that of John Paul II, on the European integration project and on Poland's efforts to join the EU. Second, it examines the changing attitude of the Polish Church toward the EU. The main argument of this paper is that the attitude of the Polish Church toward the EU has evolved from a position of skepticism to one of skeptical Euro-enthusiasm. Finally, the paper raises an important question: How will the Church's acceptance of the EU idea impact the predominantly Catholic Euro-skeptic nationalists in Poland? The answer to this question hinges in large part on the character and longevity of this 'skeptical' quality to the Church's Euro-enthusiasm.

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Re-thinking the Public Sphere: Globalization and the Excluded Other
Mark McGlynn
Department of Philosophy, University of Essex, United Kingdom

In globalization's wake, millions of refugees, migrants and displaced people, are forced to occupy exclusionary spaces both within and beyond the borders of the nation state. While the predominant mode of sociological theory addresses this fact through models of social conflict which are grounded within theories of communication, such as those of Habermas , they are generally predicated upon the normative structures of established political communities and their boundaries. Such models seem unable to address notions of otherness which necessarily operate beyond the bounds of the ‘public sphere.'
A common trait of both Habermas's treatment of the public sphere and of those theorists, such as Charles Taylor and Craig Calhoun, who have attempted to revise and expand it, is a reliance upon a notion of communication which is viewed as entirely linguistically mediated. By binding the power of linguistic communication so directly to the existence of the public sphere, the public sphere becomes the idealized place of social contest and potential integration. This idealisation of the public sphere, however, disregards the extent to which public discourse, as well as the legal and socio-political structures of the nation-state, is inscribed and directed by a view of the ‘other' that permanently disfigures and excludes the displaced from the public sphere.
This paper will seek to clarify and critique the use made of contemporary conceptions of civil society and the public sphere in light of the mass migration and displacement of peoples which has become a feature of the age of globalization. In particular I will assess the close relation between our conception of the public sphere, linguistic communication and the excluded ‘other.'

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Testing the Limits of EU Integration: Minority Rights
David Landau
European Politics and Society, Oxford University (St. Anthony's College), UK

Minority rights issues in eastern Europe remain one of the most contentious aspects of debate in the process of European Union (EU) integration. As EU agencies continue to monitor minority rights progress, east European states are struggling to (re)define and defend the historical relationships that have developed between national governments and particular minority groups. While individual states' interests are being included in this process, minority groups have been largely overlooked by both their host-states and the EU. As a result, tensions are developing between state possibilities for affecting minority rights at the national level and the supranational opportunities that will become available to minorities once integration is complete.
The debate surrounding the so-called 2001 Hungarian ‘Status Law' best demonstrates that the EU's failure to develop a clear standard for measuring and enforcing minority rights is advantaging minorities at the supranational level but has not encouraged individual states to reform and coordinate their policies with evolving European norms. Despite critical attention given to the Status Law since 2001, the notion of a compatriot law, in which a kin-state extends the benefits of its citizens to co-ethnics or citizens abroad, is neither new nor uncommon to Europe . In fact, states in both eastern and western Europe have passed such laws in the past without any major difficulties or complaints from affected states. Yet the Hungarian Status Law attracted widespread attention and criticism for its “un-European” character almost immediately after its passage. While Hungary maintains that the law's provisions coincide with its EU obligations, several European officials, in addition to the governments of Romania and Slovakia , feel otherwise.
The Status Law controversy suggests that the EU's inadequate handling of minority affairs in accession countries represents a dual test of integration. The first, more immediate, test involves the EU's ability to forge a common standard against which east European minority rights policies can be measured. The second more far-reaching test will involve the EU's response to minority groups seeking advantages arising from policy ambiguity at the supranational level. The results of both tests hinge on one critical question: Can a common EU norm be developed to provide accession states with clear principles on minority rights issues? Although the definitive outcomes of these tests are still being determined, minority groups will increasingly view the EU as their new “host-state” and will pressure the EU to enforce a broader and more uniform application of minority rights than has been previously possible.

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Inclusive Education as a Human Right and Slovakia 's Accession to the European Union
Julia White
Syracuse University, Syracuse University and Fulbright grantee in the Slovak Republic

Radúz is an eight-year-old Roma boy who attends basic school in a small town in the southeastern region of the Slovak Republic. He sits in the last row, in the back of the room, in the last seat, closest to the door. Radúz cannot identify an “a” on a page, nor can he name a “7” when asked. In the four months that the author has been observing in his classroom, the teacher has spoken to Radúz two times, both times to tell him to sit down. The teacher has told the author that she has requested that Radúz be given psychological testing in order to attend the town's special school.
Radúz's situation is typical of the educational experiences of Roma students. Teachers do not recognize Roma students as learners; they do not presume competence in Roma students, nor do they assume responsibility for offering meaningful educational opportunities for them. This is not an uncommon approach to the education of student with disabilities and students belonging to minority groups both in the United States and throughout the world.
The Slovak Ministry of Education acknowledges that approximately 75% of Roma students are placed in special schools for students labeled mentally retarded. Students belonging to minority groups are over represented in special education classrooms in the United States. Inclusive education is based on democratic principles of equality - equal access, equal opportunity, equal protection, and equal participation. Human value is the cornerstone of the philosophy of inclusive education, and inclusive education is a human right, as affirmed in Article 26 of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
A satisfactory human rights record, which includes the fair treatment of Roma children in the Slovak education system, is a pre-condition to Slovakia's accession to the European Union. This paper examines the Slovak Republic's move toward European Union membership through the human rights lens of Slovak educational policies and practices, international human rights instruments, the European Union Constitution, and provisions found in the guidelines of the World Declaration of Education for All and the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education . I will also focus on United States federal legislation, specifically the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as a comparative tool to examine to what extent Slovak education law may be informed by IDEA, and conversely, how US educational policies might be informed by Slovak education law.
Education is an economic, social, cultural, and political issue that is arguably the most important factor to ending the disenfranchisement of persons with disabilities and persons belonging to minority groups. Equal access to educational opportunity for all students ensures the participation of all students in the community, which in turn enriches the educational experience of all and promotes the participation of all citizens in a just, democratic society.

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