By Michael D. Mosettig, former Foreign Editor of PBS News Hour
It seemed a far cry from the heady days after the 1989 collapse of communism in Central Europe, when the leaders of the Polish and Czechoslovakian peaceful revolutions--Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel-- received rapturous welcomes in Congress and elsewhere in Washington.
Now, 27 years later, Poland's current head of state and the prime minister of the Czech Republic have come to the Washington in the wings of a global nuclear security summit. They used their trips also to speak to respectful crowds at think tanks, while much of the U.S. capital's attention has been focused on a Mideast in flames and a rising China and Asia.
“Jean-Luc was not only a friend but a terrific colleague,” said Institute President Joelle Attinger, speaking of Jean-Luc Robert, who died recently. “He fully believed in the European Project, and even more so, in the pivotal role that the Parliament plays in bridging the democratic deficit between the European electorate and the EU's institutions. To that end, he paid political ideology little mind. What mattered to Jean-Luc was getting the best of the Parliament before policymakers in Washington so the latter could better appreciate the caliber of the EU's legislative branch and gain fuller understanding of how and why it was approaching policy issues in the manner it was.”