Anna Bryłka holds a degree in law and history from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, and a degree in international relations from Warsaw University, where she defended her master’s thesis in 2016. She also completed postgraduate studies in foreign trade at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics. She is vice president of the National Movement (Ruch Narodowy), which is one of the parties of the Konfederacja (Confederation) coalition. Bryłka was elected MEP in the European Parliament elections last June.
Why have you joined Patriots of Europe?
Tomasz Buczek and I wanted to join the biggest group on the Right in the European Parliament. It was our goal, and we accomplished it. Patriots for Europe is a group which represents our values and program. We have the same approach to sovereignty, migration, the European Green Deal, and finance, and we all hold true European values like Christianity, Roman law, and Greek philosophy. I am very glad that I can gather with patriots from all of member states of the EU. We are the only representation of Polish interest in this big group, and what is very important for us is that we can present our point of view on European and regional matters.
Of the six elected MEPs from Konfederacja, you and Tomasz Buczek have joined Patriots of Europe; three have joined the Europe of Sovereign Nations group; and Grzegorz Braun remains as ‘non-attached.’ Each party maintains its independence within the coalition. Was this division agreed?
Our division in the European Parliament represents the same division of our coalition in Konfederacja in Poland. I remind you that National Movement is just one part of the confederation. Besides us, there are New Hope (Nowa Nadzieja), Slawomir Mentzen, and Grzegorz Braun’s party. For us it is a natural division, but we are in constant touch.
What do you expect from the new mandate of Ursula Von der Leyen as president of the European Commission?
I do not expect anything good. Von der Leyen is the worst president of the European Commission. During the last go-round, they approved a very radical climate policy, especially the European Green Deal and Fitfor55 package, which created a gigantic crisis in European industry. Climate policy was extended to agriculture, buildings, and transport, and the costs of this transformation was imposed on average European citizens. Von der Leyen will be continuing this destructive policy and we all will pay for it.
The Left and the Greens have lost a lot of support in the European elections. Isn’t implementing their policies, as Von der Leyen has said, a snub to European voters?
Von der Leyen achieved more votes in July 2024 than she did 5 years earlier. The vote on her candidacy was secret, so we’ll never know who voted or how. However, it is worth noting that Von der Leyen did a lot of work to get this support and, until the very end, her candidacy was not secure. In the end, she managed to convince many MEPs, and I think that this result was a surprise for everyone.
Her program is the continuation of previous policy in all the important issues like climate policy, migration and asylum, centralisation of the European Union, and changes to the treaty. Von the Leyen also ignores all the massive protests that took place in the member states during the last few months.
In the right-wing or sovereigntist camp there are three groups. Despite their differences, do you think it is possible for them to present a common front on migration, green, or gender policies; and about the Russian invasion?
Of course, there is an area for cooperation, and you can observe it during voting when all right groups in the EP vote in the same way. We have the same opinion on migration, green, and gender policy. We all understand that Russia is an aggressor and needs to bear the consequences of its violation of the Ukrainian borders.
The government of Donald Tusk seems to have changed its mind on immigration. What do you think is the reason for this change? What is the situation right now on the border with Belarus?
The reasons for his change of mind are the research that shows Polish society is against uncontrolled and illegal migration. Three years ago, his party voted against the fence on the Polish-Belarussian border. We still have a hybrid war on the Polish-Belarussian border, where migrants are used by the Russian and Belarussian regimes to destabilise our country.
The Sejm (Polish parliament) has even approved the use of weapons for soldiers and border guards.
The problem is that, at the Polish border, both soldiers and border guards have limited use of weapons. I believe that we have to deal not only with illegal crossings over the Polish-Belarusian borders, but that we also must understand that some ‘immigrants’ are simply bandits. Incidents involving them threaten the health and life of Polish officers, and if there is a threat to health and life, the Polish soldier should have the right to use weapons effectively.
The Tusk government began with the police occupying a television station and has taken highly controversial measures against members of the previous government. All this “to defend democracy,” in Tusk’s own words, with the silence acquiescence of Brussels. What do you think about what is happening in Poland?
Prime Minister Donald Tusk explained that this is a “fight for democracy” and has to use all the possible tools to restore the rule of law; but, with these actions, he breaks the constitution and Polish law. Donald Tusk is completely ineffective in European politics. He is no partner for Von der Leyen, but rather a non-ideal executor of her policy. Of course, there are double standards in Brussels, and right-wing governments can be victims of constant political blackmail. As soon as Tusk came to power, the European Commission immediately released funds for Poland, despite the fact that no circumstances of the functioning of the Polish state had changed.
You have just returned from the United States, where you and other Patriots members attended Donald Trump’s rally in New York. What did you think of the campaign that ended with Trump’s victory?
The campaign in the United States is very different from that in European countries. It is much more dynamic: you can also see the style of all-out personal attacks between the candidates, where there is not really much talk about programmatic arguments. From a Polish perspective, of course, the most important issues in this campaign are the war in Ukraine and the future of NATO. We are definitely closer to the Republicans because we have many more values in common. We are happy with Donald Trump’s victory.
