Last week I met one of the most famous chefs from Poland. His successful career has seen him serve Pope John Paul ii and U.S. President Gerald Ford, along with other European and Russian dignitaries. My teenage son is a budding cook, and while visiting a aaa Diamond Resort in the Southwest we took the opportunity to tour the stately kitchen and gain some wisdom from this most accomplished of men.

I listened closely as my son received pearls of career wisdom from a tall, handsome man dressed immaculately in his white attire with a Polish flag emblazoned on its collar. His life has been one of sacrifice, hard work and increasing prosperity. He recalled the fall of the Berlin Wall, collapse of the ussr and the open arms of the United States to those such as himself who sought freedom and a better life. He touched on the crisis in Europe today and was cautious of the Continent’s dominance by any singular nation. He noted that his native Poland must be careful and wise.

Europe’s Crisis

A meeting of European Union finance ministers set for Wednesday has been canceled. The summit of eurozone leaders set to take place on that same day will remain as scheduled.

The Warsaw Business Journal reported, “In its position as president of the EU Council, Poland was responsible for canceling the Ecofin meeting.”

Reports emerged that the abrupt cancellation occurred as a result of agenda issues not being finalized. As desperation grips the eurozone as it nears the fiscal midnight hour, this meeting’s cancellation does not spell financial success in the winds but rather failure.

Amid the economic chaos in Europe, Poland’s actions reveal leadership under pressure, although such a decision clearly would not have taken place without discussion and an approving nod from the Union’s most powerful nation—Germany.

The government of Poland was reelected recently and seems to be taking steps to prevent the nation’s debt from exceeding legal limits. Standard & Poor’s rating agency has noted that the country may be upgraded if it positively institutes growth-oriented initiatives.

Bloomberg writes that “Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the first incumbent government leader to win an election since the collapse of communism 22 years ago, needs to keep public debt, at 52.8 percent of gross domestic product last year according to national accounting standards, from breaching a 55 percent ceiling that would trigger mandatory austerity measures.”

Germany’s ‘Friend’

According to The U.S. Department of State, “Poland became an associate member of the EU and its defensive arm, the Western European Union, in 1994. In a June 2003 national referendum, the Polish people approved EU accession by an overwhelming margin, and Poland gained full membership in May 2004.”

The Economist said “It was the only country in the European Union to register economic growth in 2009, at 1.7 percent. gdp per head rose from 50 percent to 56 percent of the EU average in 2009—a record jump. By the same (somewhat flattering) measure, which adjusts for the greater purchasing power arising from lower prices, Poland now has Europe’s sixth-biggest economy.”

It comes as no surprise then that “Germany now claims that it wants its relations with Poland to be as close as they are with France. Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s new foreign minister, chose Warsaw for his first foreign visit” (Economist,Jan. 28, 2010).

In April of 2010, the Trumpet said this:

Last year’s tragedy of the loss of so many key government and defense personnel in the Smolensk airplane crash has sped the process of the submission of Poland to the increasingly anti-Semitic, imperially dominant German leadership of the rising imperial Europe—literally none other than the seventh and final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. The great Polish plain has proven to be indefensible by successive Polish governments as first German then Russian tanks swept across its vast open space to swallow Poland up as an enslaved state in their respective, and successive empires. Strategically, the Polish plain was served up to German imperialist domination when Poland became an EU member.”

Look for greater economic and military cooperation between Berlin and Warsaw. This week’s crisis talks over the fate of Europe will result in the Continent’s most powerful member garnering even greater powers of influence and sovereignty. Of course this will be sold as brothers in arms coming together to save the Euro-family vision, but only the blind cannot see that what will become two-speed Europe has already given its power over to Germany and its stronger economic partners such as Poland in the north as they rule over the financially infirm in the south and east (Daniel 8:9).

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