Among strangers and a stranger among us — Donald Tusk, the most influential politician of Poland, today should be re-elected as President of the European Council. However, the nationalist government of Poland began violently to oppose the extension of the powers of his liberal compatriot.
Pole Donald Tusk performs one of the most prestigious jobs in the EU — presides over the summits of the leaders of this bloc of 28 countries. His 2.5-year term of office to expire may 31, and today, March 9, representatives of the EU countries must vote to leave the current “President of Europe” in his post for another 30 months until the end of November 2019.
Tusk has applied the desire to be re-elected for a second term in early February and has enlisted the support of Germany and France. Until recently, he was the only candidate. It seemed that all EU countries would show unity in supporting the candidature of Donald Tusk unanimously. Demonstration of solidarity would have helped the European leaders in addressing the more important issues, such as the organization with minimal losses exit of Britain from the EU.
However, an unexpected rebellion against Tusk once again stressed the existence of a split between the rich countries of the EU and the Eastern members of the bloc. Last Saturday, the government of Poland proposed to replace the current head of the European Council the other pole — a little-known member of the European Parliament Jacek Saryusz-Wolski. And on Wednesday, the Prime Minister of Poland Beata Szydlo, of the ruling nationalist party “law and justice”, began campaigning against the re-election of Tusk for a second term.
According to her, former Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk, formerly head of the largest opposition party, “Civic platform” continues to interfere in the internal politics of their country and thus “violates the” rule “political neutrality”, which must adhere to the policies of the international level.
“We can’t allow a dangerous precedent when the democratically elected government of a member country of the EU is subjected to political attacks of the President of the European Council,” wrote Beata Szydlo in a letter sent to all European leaders.
Donald Tusk criticized the Polish government during the December mass demonstrations against the harassment of the media. On the eve of the new year he published the wish of his followers in social networks, “to see the homeland freed from the evil and stupidity”. In response, the Minister of foreign Affairs of Poland Witold Waszczykowski said that this Tusk is an “icon of evil and stupidity,” and wished to “stay away from Poland.”
In a time when all EU members except Poland supported the current President of the European Council, and for his re-election enough majority of the votes, attempt to block his promotion to a second term requires extraordinary justification. Members of the “Law and justice” those are not provided.
Colleagues of Donald Tusk’s party believe that the true reason for the demarche of the government of Poland is not that it is dissatisfied with the work of the Chairman of the Council of Europe. According to ewa kopacz, the former in 2014-2015, Prime Minister of Poland, “the causes of things is not constructive criticism and personal vendetta and pettiness”. The former Prime Minister said that Warsaw is in conflict with Brussels at the worst possible time, when the debate on the future of the European Union without Britain.
The leader of “Law and justice” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Donald Tusk calls “morally responsible” for the death of his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski killed in Russian plane crash near Smolensk in 2010. At the time, Tusk was the Prime Minister and, according to Kaczynski, had to ensure the safety of the aircraft. Also leader of the ruling party did more than dark hints about a possible existence of a conspiracy Tusk and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who considered Lech Kaczynski as a threat.
Tusk and Kaczynski twins has always made his hatred of the political show for the poles. So, in 2008, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has refused to provide government aircraft President Lech Kaczynski to fly to Brussels to meet European leaders and myself went in his stead. However, the President rented a Charter and still arrived at the summit, bewildering by their appearance all present and starting with Tusk quarrel about who of the two should take a seat at the round table.
Arranging the current spectacle of ostentatious counter to the EU leaders in their efforts to re-elect Tusk to head the European Council, the party of Jaroslaw Kaczynski is playing on nationalist sentiments of the poles and earns political points. After coming to power in 2015, “law and justice” has repeatedly engaged in confrontations with the European Union and remained unpunished.
A vivid example of an open defiance of Warsaw was conducted in 2016 judicial reform deprived the constitutional court of many powers to oversee the government and Parliament. In December the European Commission gave Poland the ultimatum with the requirement to roll back this reform in two months, threatening to take the country right to vote in the Council of Europe. However, after two months, Poland has not fulfilled the requirements, and the Commission was in a difficult position. Not punishing Poland, it will show weakness. But any attempt to restrict the country of rights will fail if it vetoes a friendly Poland, the nationalist government of Hungary. And it’s even more fragmented EU.
