Conservative and right-wing MEPs pointed out the double standards of the European Union for awarding the Polish left-liberal government billions of euros in funds—despite a state of lawlessness in Poland since Prime Minister Donald Tusk came to power a year ago.
Tusk has been embraced by the Brussels elite. Their enthusiasm for the liberal PM was on full show at the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday, January 22nd, during which Tusk outlined his country’s EU presidency programme.
The prime minister, a former chief of the European Council, like the centrist European People’s Party (EPP), is persecuting his political rivals at home, jailing opposition lawmakers, withholding state funds from the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, purging state institutions, and ignoring court rulings.
MEP Patryk Jaki of the PiS party berated Tusk by saying:
You took over the prosecutor’s office by force … and the same happened with the public media. The Constitutional Court said that this was not legal, but you’ve ignored the ruling .… You have not guaranteed the possibility of a fair trial to MPs, and so you’re doing the same as Putin. You are persecuting certain people .… You don’t respect the rulings and generally speaking, you’re not acting as a guardian of the law.
Tusk’s government was given billions of euros worth of EU funds last year—money blocked during the tenure of the previous Polish cabinet, which was led by PiS. The European Commission had arbitrarily withheld the money citing ‘rule-of-law’ deficiencies in Poland, when in fact it was blackmailing the PiS government to change course on its conservative policies and submit to the will of Brussels.
Tamás Deutsch of the ruling Hungarian conservative party, Fidesz, called the EU’s behaviour a classic example of double standards.
Those who think differently from those in power are subject to political persecution, open and harsh political persecution. And the reaction in Brussels to the current Polish rule of law crisis clearly shows the double standards of the leaders of the European Union .… Now they are silent, or even enthusiastically welcome the destruction of the rule of law and democracy, and the use of police violence.
Hungary recently granted political asylum to a former PiS deputy prime minister, who was detained in Poland despite holding immunity. Deutsch said anyone who is forced to flee their homeland due to political persecution can count on Hungary.
“What you did in the way of violations against the rule of law in your country was more than the Law and Justice Party did in eight years. And you’re getting away with it. The EU lets you get away with it,” MEP Tomasz Froelich of the German Alternative für Deutschland said.
The harsh criticism was aimed at Tusk who was protected by his allies during the plenary debate.
Hypocritically, EPP group head Manfred Weber said Tusk has “brought Poland back to the rule of law,” and that “Poland is again in the heart of Europe.”
Iratxe García Pérez, the leader of the Socialists’ group said “a new chapter is starting in Europe under the Polish Presidency of the Council, a presidency which, under your leadership, should have the potential to be a moral and political compass in the times of unprecedented challenges.”
Valérie Hayer of the liberal Renew group said “we will stand by your side in your efforts to restore the rule of law that was trodden under foot by the PiS government.”
In his opening speech Tusk himself talked less about Poland, and more about Europe, stressing that the Polish presidency’s motto is security—a desire to have security in defence, energy, economy, and internal security against the challenges of illegal migration.
Without revealing too much about concrete steps to address these problems, the prime minister said Europe “should not be fearful” of the geopolitical changes in the world, or about the election of Donald Trump in the United States, but Europeans “should raise their heads,” because they have managed to overcome other crises in the past, such as the financial crisis and the COVID pandemic.
Tusk said that Europe should not rely on others, but instead take responsibility into its own hands, where member states, for example, should raise their respective defence budgets to 5% of their GDP—not be an unreasonable target.
Despite his terrible record at home, and his inability to present a concrete course of action for the EU to take, Tusk was given a warm welcome by the left-liberal majority of the European Parliament.
The debate was a huge contrast to the one that had ensued during the presentation of the Hungarian presidency programme by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán last year. The conservative PM had proposed useful, concrete steps for the EU to follow, but was met with an extremely hostile crowd.
