In this 18th episode of The European Republic, our host Nikodem Skrobisz speaks with Bruno Topiński, chairman of Astra Poland / Astra Europa Polska, about why the case for European federalism looks different when it is made from Warsaw rather than Berlin or Paris.
Topiński argues that he belongs to a generation that did not need an Erasmus year to feel European, and that Poland’s transformation over the past three decades is inseparable from its European integration. But he also pushes back on the idea that Poland is drifting away from Europe: support for EU membership, he says, has remained remarkably stable since the accession referendum. What Poland is contesting, in his view, is not integration itself but the terms on which it happens. National sovereignty for a mid-sized European state is an illusion in a world of competing hegemonies. Squeezed between Russian imperialism, an increasingly transactional United States, Chinese economic pressure and hostile theocratic regimes and rising Islamism, Poland cannot secure itself alone.
Topiński also explains why he co-founded with Astra Europa a new federalist organisation rather than joining Volt, why he believes federalism must stop being a partisan project of the political left, and how Astra Poland plans to force every Polish candidate to declare a position on European integration ahead of 2029. The episode closes on Polish party fragmentation, the weakness of pro-European civil society, and his argument that federalism will be won locally before it is won in any parliament.
Learn more about Astra Poland: https://astraeuropa.pl/
Learn more about Astra Europa: https://astraeuropa.eu/
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