Struggling to hang together, can Poland save the Union?

“WE must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately,” Polish finance minister Jacek Rostowski warned over the weekend, quoting the phrase attributed to Benjamin Franklin as he signed the US declaration of independence.

In a way, this is to be the theme of the six-month-long Polish European Union presidency that began during the week, as they urged leaders to stop bad mouthing the Union simply to help them stay in power at home.

But however much of a truism the phrase is, this attempt to change what is a dangerous direction could be doomed to failure in January, when the Poles hand over to the Danes.