The East-West Divide Revisited in Wartime

Résumé En

Do we (still) have an East-West divide inside the EU and how does it affect the current debate about the future of Europe? The unity displayed in the European response to the war in Ukraine, the speed with which sanctions were adopted and assistance offered could well give the impression that, perhaps, differences had been overstated or at any rate relegated in the European agenda to a secondary status. The urgency of the geopolitical challenge and the prominent part the countries of East-Central Europe play in facing it in terms of humanitarian aid to refugees, military assistance and political support, have certainly shifted the perspective on the region. Poland, asserting a major role in this context seemed to reclaim a moral high ground in the EU thus making it (for the time being) unlikely for the EU Commission to return promptly to its unfinished business with Warsaw over the primacy of European law in Poland. In other words, does the vindication of the East European threat perceptions concerning Russia impact the ongoing controversies with the EU Commission concerning “illiberal democracy” and the conditionality of member-states access to European funds?