Bartosz Rydli ń ski European Sovereignty Commentary on the Findings of the Survey in Poland EUROPEAN SOVEREIGNTY AS MULTIPLIER OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY In Polish political language, there are no other terms used more frequently that evoke such unambiguously positive emotions as’independence’ and’sovereignty’. This stems from the lasting historical memory of Poles regarding their tragic collective history. I am referring here to the experience of a country that used to be a European geopolitical power between the 16th and 18th centuries, a country that disap­peared from the map of Europe at the end of the 18th centu­ry. The 123 years without its own statehood; colonisation by Russia, Germany and Austria and the independence uprisings suppressed violently still resonate in the language of politics, culture and the collective understanding of patriotism in Po­land today. Also, the events of the Second World War are, to this day, a source of widespread and cross-party national trau­ma. The attack by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and by the Soviet Union 16 days later resulted in the annihilation of the new state, which had been associated with genera­tional hopes. Furthermore, the atrocities committed against the civilian population by two totalitarian regimes, the most extreme and anti-human dimension of which was the Holo­caust, are an important component of family histories and recollections, fears and anxieties. In addition, the almost half-century-long presence of Poland in the Soviet sphere of influence is, especially in the right-wing part of society, an im­portant basis for glorifying the right to self-determination, as well as to pursue its own independent policy, both domesti­cally and abroad. The perception of national sovereignty has profoundly changed with Poland’s accession to NATO in 1999, and to the European Union half a decade later. By joining the political, economic and military West, Poland has increased the sense of its own security, the sustainability of its state structures and the visibility of necessary reforms that have strengthened the country over the past 32 years. Against this backdrop, Poland’s geopolitical success story is often con­trasted with that of its neighbour, Ukraine, which did gain in­dependence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but failed to take advantage of the historical opportunities of European­isation and the creation of lasting alliances that would guar­antee its independence and sovereignty. The Russian aggres­sion against Ukraine in 2014 and the detachment of Crimea are prime examples. The notion of’European sovereignty’ is therefore viewed in Poland as an element of a’multiplier’ for national sovereignty which wards off the threat of attack from outside and forms the basis of a source of funding for those policies and reforms aimed at catching up with the West. The one in question is especially Germany which, be­cause of its geographical and cultural proximity, is a real point of reference for millions of Poles. UNION OF MANY CRISES The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic represented yet another crisis with which the European Union has had to struggle in recent years. During each of these crises(eco­nomic, debt, migration and the pandemic), Poland pursued as sovereign a policy towards Brussels as possible, often us-