Happy Bastille Day!
The great liberation of the Bastille on 14th July 1789 was in fact more of a symbolic than a numerical victory. Only seven miserable souls happened to be holed up in the infamous prison at the time, and in the rush to smash their way through the gates, several of the liberators own men came to a sticky end, trampled in the stampede.
These thoughts were no doubt far away from the minds of French diplomats as they settled down to enjoy some of the delights of their national cuisine at this years Bastille Day Picnic, held as usual at Warsaw's French Embassy. With some delectable wines at their disposal, all was set for a highly convivial afternoon. Nevertheless, all did not bode well for the ambassador's reception. Certainly, it is unlikely that toasts were planned to the memory of Polish Princess Rozalia Lubomirska, who was guillotined for the cause of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, the ill-starred Princess would no doubt have approved of the attack on the Embassy that was about to take place.
For indeed, over 500 stout Polish workers had decided that Liberte, Egalite et Fraternite were qualities that were most decidedly lacking in major French companies treatment of their Polish employees. With this in mind, the Poles took it upon themselves to bombard the embassy with vegetable missiles and then launch into a verbal tirade of protest against mass redundancies, reduced wages and French double standards in the field of employment. If these sallies were not enough, the Poles then saw to it that an image of the legendary Bastille was burnt with ceremonious gusto.
Whilst the protesters insisted that the demonstration was not anti-French in general, the incident struck yet another sour note in a series of knocks to Franco-Polish relations in recent times. Many sensible thinkers may have supported the French stance over Iraq, but Chirac's initial quip that New Europe should have known when to shut up was not applauded by the Poles.
Similarly, French fears about a deluge of cheap Polish labour swarming the French market have spiralled to such an extent that the Polish Tourist Office has been compelled to launch an unlikely charm offensive to win over French hearts. In an inspired riposte to French fears, the Office came up with a poster of a dashing Polish plumber brandishing various tools, above the caption: 'I'm staying in Poland - come, one and all' . The poster caused such a sensation that it turned the young plumber into an overnight celebrity. The Poles immediately launched a follow up, this time with a 'naughty nurse'. All the same, it could be argued that the beauty of Polish women needs no fresh advertisement to the French, as is confirmed by the Prince de Ligne's own musings many years ago: 'Polish ladies' he wrote, 'have a grace, a charm and an abandon superior to those of the women of all other parts of the world.'
The wobbles in Franco-Polish relations may turn out to be minor teething problems in the adaption of the two countries to the Post-Iron Curtain reality. Indeed, Presidents Kwasniewski and Chirac have already held a conciliatory meeting at Arras this year with the intention of working together as a team. The French had put an initial stalling block on the influx of Polish workers, but the two countries have much shared history, a factor which the governments fail to promote. France and Poland fought side by side under Napoleon, whilst gallant French volunteers joined the Polish Uprising against the Russians in 1863. Paris was one of the key centres for Polish political exiles for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. If a united Europe is really to work, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity must be the calling cards of the day.