BRUSSELS — Poland has tried to resort to sabotage, but other EU members wanted the Donald Tusk has continued to be the President of the European Council. On Thursday evening the pole was re-elected to this position.
Most countries consider it an advantage if some of her compatriots occupying the highest positions in the EU system. And the most attractive — if the national heads of the European Council, which brings together the heads of state and government.
However, Poland fought fiercely for the fact that the EU said goodbye to Donald Tusk and chose someone else.
“I can’t imagine that I support a candidate who fights against their own government. I can’t imagine that other EU members will support a candidate who does not enjoy support from their own government,” — said earlier the Minister of foreign Affairs of Poland Witold Waszczykowski, told the Financial Times.
In a last attempt to prevent the reelection of Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister on Wednesday sent a letter to the heads of state and government of all EU countries in which the Tusk was subjected to harsh criticism and asked to find another candidate.
However, Poland’s efforts in what have not resulted: the meeting of the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Tusk was still re-elected: 27 votes were cast for him against was only one.
“Under the dictates of Berlin”
I was only against Poland and after on the voting results became known, foreign Minister Waszczykowski again allowed himself to harsh criticism:
“We know that this Union is subjected to the diktat of Berlin. This leads to the fact that the European Union is changing in a very dangerous direction. It becomes very poisonous and it can cause damage to many countries,” he said, according to NTB.
In protest against the decision of the poles were warned that they would refuse to put the signature under the final document of the summit.
Conspiracy theories about Tusk and Putin
This extraordinary story has its prehistory: a long conflict between Tusk and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the chairmen of the Polish national-conservative party “law and justice”, which is now in Poland the ruling. Kaczynski believes that Tusk is partly responsible for the fact that a brother of the politician Lech Kaczynski, the then President of Poland and 95 people died in a plane crash near Smolensk in Russia in 2010.
The fact that Tusk at the time was the Prime Minister from the party “Civic platform”, and in Poland a widespread conspiracy theory that Tusk and Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed, and the plane crashed not by itself. However, in all investigations conducted to date, it was concluded that the crash was a tragic accident.
To the old contradictions and added the ongoing conflict between the national-conservative government in Warsaw and Brussels in recent years. Critics warn that Poland is moving in the direction of rejection of the liberal policy.
Proposed alternative candidate with no experience
From the rest of the EU, Tusk has broad support. And his re-election for a long time was perceived as a mere formality until the moment when it became clear that Poland was on the warpath and wanted to reset it.
In early may, they suggested that instead of a Tusk, the new Polish candidate, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski. He is a member of the European Parliament and has no experience neither the President nor the Prime Minister nor the Commissioner, nor the Minister. The rest of the EU did not consider it a serious option.
In the process, mentioned the other, more likely replacement Tusk, in particular, talked about the fact that the countries in power are the social-democratic government, could unite in support of the new candidate and to try to “knock” Tusk together with Poland. The fact that now the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission and the European Parliament represent the center-right party. But similar sounding to anything did not lead.
Sources in the EU, with whom talked correspondent for Aftenposten, wondering about the noise, which raised Poland characterize taking place not only as “show Kaczynski”.
“Most believe that Tusk with his work copes, and to find candidates who would support all 28 States, it is not easy,” said one diplomat.
