It is not every day that you see the metro-liberal elite swaying on stage to the tune of disco polo - a kind of nineties folk-meets-pop beloved by small town Poland. But this is no regular political rally, but an inauguration of a new party which is bound to further divide opposition to the ruling ultra-conservative government in Warsaw. The movement is led by Robert Biedron - the atheist LGBT activist mayor of the town of Slupsk and a likeable political figure.

The name of the party is Wiosna, which stands for ‘Spring’, but now also means serious political cringe. Robert Biedron with his rolled up sleeves, loose tie, questionable taste in music and a straight talk is aiming to achieve something that has not been done for years: broaden the appeal of the progressive side of Polish politics. And let’s be honest, Polish liberalism has had a patchy relationship with rural Poland. The polyglot slick liberals in in well cut suits, so beloved abroad, have always struck an awkward tone in the depths the countryside. It is not that they are unlikable. They are unrelatable.

So will his trick succeed? Probably not. Will he get a significant number of votes come the parliamentary election this Autumn? Probably yes. But his success is bound to be short lived. Make no mistake, Biedron is no Bernie Sanders of Polish politics. He is not here to take on the conservative right.

There has been certain continuity in Polish politics. The two most powerful parties of the day, the liberal Civic Platform and the ruling conservative Law and Justice party have pretty much been in continuous existence since 1990. The names and logos might have changed, but the people and the vision have largely remained the same for the last thirty years. And for the last ten years at almost every election we have a brand new progressive party being formed to the left of centre. And these parties come with one very specific goal - to peel votes away from the main liberal party.

Here, Biedron’s movement is no different. It is exactly what we have seen time over again. A small party being formed with the hope of taking upwards of thirty seats from the liberals. They get in on the wave of relentless criticism of Civic Platform and after four years of parliamentary squabble they slip back into the abyss of political insignificance.

But this time the stakes are higher.

Since the current nationalist government came to power in 2015 we have seen an unprecedented threat to the Polish democracy. The country is on a course away from the democratic Europe and towards the likes of Orban’s Hungary and Putin’s Russia. And since majority of Poles oppose such direction, winning elections is particularly tricky business for Law and Justice. However, this is where Mr Biedron comes to their rescue.

In our electoral system the largest parties get allocated disproportionally more seats in the parliament. The more parties there are in opposition, the harder it is for them to win a majority. So Wiosna will likely effectively lock Civic Platform out of government and will help sustain Law and Justice in power for years to come.

Mr. Biedron accuses the current government of politicising the courts, controlling state run media, repressing journalistic freedom, wanting to pull out of the EU and undermining democracy. If he is serious about those existential threats to his country, he should recognise that currently the biggest threat to bringing about the change of government lies in is his own involvement in politics.

The packed hall explodes with applause almost every 30 seconds. To my left some kind of cool mom is having spasms of euphoric cry while a group of youngsters to my right are going through a seizure of hipster ecstasy. You might be mistaken for thinking MGMT are in town, but you could not be further from the truth. A 29 year old congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is speaking at a rally.

A hopeful tear-jerker of a speech from this working class latina from Bronx almost breaks my resolve to keep it cool. Let’s be honest, it is usually difficult to get excited by what American parliamentarians have to say at rallies, but make no mistake. This is no ordinary parliamentarian and no ordinary rally.

Last year Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had defeated a ten time congressman and Democratic Party grandee in a primary for New York’s 14 congressional district, and went on to become the youngest member of congress in US history. She was outspent by her rival by 15 to 1, but her campaign mobilized huge crowds and enthusiasm unprecedented in midterm elections. She single handedly caused the biggest political upset of the year and months later she still moves hearts and minds of the young progressive America.

From the very start she has rejected the usual grown-up tone of the political establishment and replaced it with a language that a new generation of voters can relate to. Millennials who until recently thought politics to be something far removed from their world of soya lattes and co-working spaces, feel they have found a political home. Thanks to this new whirlwind of young straight-talking politics led by Alexandria, Democratic Party is energised and its membership skyrocketed to reach astounding 45 million voters. Gone are the days of the Democrats cosying up to big business and trading lobbies. Alexandria is bringing about long needed change with a smile and a sledgehammer.

However, if you are on the lookout for someone like Alexandria at the upcoming European elections, I advise you keep your shirt on. It is simply not possible. Subject to our political model she could have never been elected.

In the US they have a party primary for every congressional seat. An incumbent Congresswoman who wants to be re-elected needs to stand against any potential rival from her own party every two years. Only the candidate who wins votes among all party members in the constituency gets to run on the party’s ticket at the upcoming election. So, it simply doesn’t matter how much you have been cosying up to the upper echelons of the party establishment if your locals don’t think you are the guy. And the grassroots usually favour candidates in tune with their ideology and their need for change. The US system has been designed to bring people like Alexandria through its ranks.

In Europe it is a whole different world. Most major European parties are centered around its leadership. In countries like Germany, Italy, Poland, France or Spain the process of choosing candidates by the local party charters is often a farce. It is up to the leader to decide who will get a favourable place on the electoral list. After all it is the leader who is accountable before the party for its electoral performance, so the argument goes he or she should hold sway in candidate selection. This means candidate lists are a result of inner party power struggles that occur behind the closed doors and journalists often have very little or no knowledge on the exact workings of these processes.

In the US the parties do not have leaders in the same sense that they do in Europe. There are posts that coordinate the party apparatus such as the Senate Leader, House Leader, Party Chairperson and Party Secretary. While in the media they stand as a united front in reality they often compete for influence, bringing much needed plurality of views and democracy to the party. In Europe it is all about “one leader - one vision”.

So far there has been a grassroot appetite for open party primaries within the UK Labour Party, but the idea has been successfully quashed by the sitting Members of Parliament. I hope at least they see the irony of it.

If we ever dream of getting people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez walking the corridors of power we need to create a truly democratic Europe, where politicians are accountable to the party grassroots. A Europe with open primaries where as party members we can have an active role in choosing the candidates and shaping the policies. Europeans are fed up with the status quo. It is our duty to give them the opportunity to have their voices heard or otherwise leave them without hope for change and risk losing their votes to the protest parties on the far-right.

Brexit, the idea of going alone, dependent on nothing and no one but the might of Great Britain has its roots in the long history of British exceptionalism. It is driven by the feeling that at some very intrinsic level Britain is superior to her continental neighbours. It's time the Brits got a reality check.

It's worth pointing out that at some point in our history just about all European nations saw themselves as being the ones chosen by God. 17th century Poland at the peak of its golden age saw itself as the guardian of European civilization against the Muslim world, 19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire was to be the ultimate unifying power under whose control innumerable European nations could live in freedom. The French had their Mission Civilisatrice de la France, The Germans went with Sonderweg (special path), while the Tsarist Russia proclaimed itself to be Third Rome

However, all those perceptions were not only totally misguided, but also eventually ravaged by the realities of history. Poland disappeared from the maps for over a century having been partitioned by her neighbours, France watched Bismarck and Hitler march their troops down Champs-Élysées, Russia almost annihilated itself through the chaos of the revolution, Austro-Hungary collapsed under its inherent inefficiency and I won't even mention what happened to Germany. We all in Europe at one point or another found ourselves chewed up and spat out. And it was that very humiliation of finding oneself at the mercy of history, that has successfully rooted out any notion of exceptionalism among us.

The UK however, having been good at not losing wars, never got to taste the bitterness of total defeat. For centuries British politicians have embraced and fostered British exceptionalism and mixed it up with a form of misguided patriotism.

After World War Two, having lost its Empire and been economically dissapated, Britain seemed to be edging towards reconciling itself with its past image. Then in 1982 Argentine junta invaded the Falklands and, to the word’s surprise, Margharet Thatcher responded by sending her whole flotilla across the world to defend the remnants of what used to be a world dominated by the British. “Empire Strikes Back” proclaimed Newsweek as Brits unapologetically cheered for their war machine quashing Johny Foreigner one more time. The war ended with a British victory, but it fuelled a whole generation of Brits with a form of distrust towards anyone who doesn’t happen to be a subject of the Queen.

These toxic misperceptions have been allowed to go on unchallenged for too long.

But with Brexit things are about to change. The British electorate through the slow and painful process of leaving the EU are slowly finding out what’s real and what’s rhetoric. Britain's economy is too small and too intricately linked to the continent in order for the UK to ever find itself standing in the world alone with the likes of US, India or China.

The Brexit dream, however romantic and optimistic, has always been and always will be just a dream. Britain’s place is at the heart of Europe's economy and politics and no degree of self delusion can change it.   

About
President of European CouncilvUK has historically been a counterweight to Germany’s vision of the continent, but with Brexit and Germany proving itself most economically capable a seismic shift is about to take place in the corridors of power in Brussels. History of Germany as seen from the perspective her neighbours can teach us a lesson about Germany’s place in shaping the future of our continent.

UK has historically been a counterweight to Germany’s vision of the continent, but with Brexit and Germany proving itself most economically capable a seismic shift is about to take place in the corridors of power in Brussels. History of Germany as seen from the perspective her neighbours can teach us a lesson about Germany’s place in shaping the future of our continent.

I remember seeing this cartoon as a kid. God and his angels lean over the Earth and God giggles ‘Let’s prank the Polish and put them right between the Germans and the Russians’. But to understand why Germany kept expanding its borders through the means of war at the expense of her neighbours one has to acknowledge a simple fact. With few exceptions such as the Polish Golden Age, French might under the Sun King and Napoleon, or time of Austria’s economic and cultural boom under Maximilian I, for most part Germany has been economically superior to its neighbours.

Yet it was not till Bismarck unified the country in 1871 that Germans for the first time got to grasp exactly how much power they yield on the international stage. The power came quickly and in great quantities and soon gave the Germans a grand vision of themselves and their role in Europe which 43 years later created the grounds on which they fought both the First World War in 1914 and the Second twenty years later. It was a vision of Europe subjugated and under the control of the Germany as a reemerged new Roman Empire with its capital in Berlin. And we all know how well that went. Holocaust and 80 million dead.

So fast forward to 1989 when Margaret Thatcher tried to do everything to stop the German reunification from happening. Her argument was that a reunited Germany could reinstate the old territorial aspirations of Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm and Hitler. Her fear of German revanchism might have been justified at the time - it was not till 1992 that the treaty in which Germany recognised Polish-German border came into force. However, her solution of stopping Germany from ever uniting showed a lack of understanding of the country’s place in Europe.

The way to achieve a long lasting balance of power in Europe has never lied in attempting to limit the German might. We saw how the 1919 treaty of Versailles, which put humiliating sanctions on Germany, led to a wave of public anger and political populism on a back of which Hitler made his political career. It has been proven time and again that the only way of stopping German nationalism and chauvinism from gaining track lies in bringing Germany to the forefront.

However hesitant German politicians might be to take the reins of power of the Old Continent, they should understand that it is their duty to do so. Europe needs leadership now more than ever and Germany is best fit to step in. European Union is aching for change, the Euro requires structural reforms and closer economic cooperation between the states. Infrastructure projects such as rail need to be much better planned and coordinated. We need to show more solidarity towards poorer regions and offer Europe which is social and seen as helping the poor and not perceived as a mere vehicle for the interests of rich corporations and trading lobbies. At last we need Europe which is democratic and accountable to voters, so that Europeans begin to see the EU not as some distant function, but as something to participate in. Let's start with having direct elections for the post of President of the European Council.

The list is long and there has been far too little progress since we signed the Lisbon Treaty in 2007. For us to excel we need Berlin to take its rightful seat behind the steering wheel, take responsibility and show some vision. Us as Europeans we should welcome it because it is in our interest that Germany’s future be European, not inward looking.

‘I want to be a writer or at least a sensation’ scream the enthusiastic faces of the international book browsing clientele at Books and Bagels at the heart of well-to-do east Berlin. The large cafe cum English language bookshop is devoted to ensuring that whatever sexy new book gets published, it appears on its shelves in a timely fashion.

Young servers with brilliant eyes who carry coffees with speed and devotion sell you overpriced bagels, but what they do not sell are their dreams of Berlin. Instead they carry them inside and afraid you might notice through the steely smile, they prefer to serve you quickly and move on to the next customer.

Located right on the vibrant Warschauer Straße in Friedrichshain, it is a place where Berlin’s book lovers can appreciate themselves for what a cosmopolitan and marvellous group of people they are. Among them the hermits in woolie jumpers who mingle with the old mavericks and bored young poets. Techies not allowed, but they sneak in anyway. Sweating out mathematical models on your Macbook to the murmur of bookish chatter is the thing apparently.

Once reading Marquez in a little-too-comfortable armchair I fell asleep and woke up three hours later, just to find out that the man who had been sitting next to me at the time of falling asleep was still there and snoozing away with Camus on his lap. That is the kind of place Books and Bagels is. If you are one of those rare people who still read and you haven’t been there yet I suggest you get up and go. And maybe pack yourself a lunchbox and gobble it in their bathroom or face spending eight Euros on a bagel. Open M-Sat: 8:00-20:00 ​Sundays 9:00-20:00.

We have entered a new era in British politics, where once mainstream political stances such as pro-Europeanism are seen as illegitimate or even treasonous. I am told that anything which seems to contradict slogans from the Leave campaign ought to be sacrificed on the altar of a near religious belief that Brexit will ‘somehow work out’.

The new line of argument I hear from Brexiteers is that the reason for Brexit’s apparent failure lies in the fact that the government does not believe enough in its success. May is a Remainer! Had they only put true Brexiteers such as Gove and Johnson on the job, their belief in Brexit alone would have been enough to steer Britain right into an economic El Dorado.   

What if they were to fail as well? Then we would hear the same commentators saying that it is because they did not believe enough, and if we only put in their place someone who can guarantee the expected level of belief, then and only then, Brexit will be saved and everyone will live happily ever after.

Do you remember those times when instead of talks of belief we had to listen to all those boring experts talking down at us with facts and numbers? Yawn! That is a goner. Belief is the currency of the day. And we need to be wary. Now the subversive elements are out to to derail the will of the people and those in the 5th column never sleep. And let's make it clear, if you don't believe in Brexit, you are at best not a democrat or perhaps even a traitor. Or worse you are a radical heretic who believes that people can change their minds and vote again. In other words, you are the problem.

After all in 1918 all that stood in the way of the Soviet success was the hidden enemy, the bourgeois element, the remains of the white army hiding under the rock of the communist reason. Once they had been wiped out and the Russian people were still starving it was the trotskyites who carried the responsibility for all evil. Obviously. And once Stalin killed them all or sent to gulags he himself died and his successors announced that the revolution is on the brink of success only if all those subversive stalinist elements get finally wiped out. And it went on and on and did we not have fun.

So let’s proclaim once and for all: Brexit is on the cusp of great success, all we need is to forget facts, figures, experts, all the boring stuff and just believe. Because all Brits are equal, but those who believe in Brexit are more equal than others.