“Drastic solutions” needed in dispute with “Brussels dictatorship”, says senior Polish official

One of the most senior figures in Poland’s ruling party has called for “drastic solutions” to Warsaw’s latest conflict with Brussels. As an example, he pointed to how the UK chose to leave the “Brussels dictatorship” completely.

The remarks by Ryszard Terlecki – who is head of the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party’s parliamentary caucus and also serves as deputy speaker of parliament – have led critics to again accuse the government of seeking to push for “Polexit” from the European Union.

“We need to consider how we can cooperate so that…the [European] Union can be acceptable for us,” said Terlecki. “Because if it goes as it seems [to be], we will have to look for drastic solutions.”

“The British showed that the dictatorship of Brussels bureaucracy does not suit them, [and] they turned and left,” he continued. “We do not want to leave; [in Poland] support for the EU is very strong. But we cannot get pushed into something that limits our freedom and development.”

This week, the European Commission announced its latest round of action against Poland – including seeking daily fines – over Warsaw’s failure to comply with recent European Court of Justice rulings against its disciplinary system for judges.

Terlecki’s remarks sparked condemnation from opposition figures. “For six years, our rulers have been…taking Poland step by step out of the EU,” tweeted Borys Budka, head of the centrist Civic Platform’s (PO) parliamentary caucus. “Today R[yszard] Terlecki confirms it.”

PO, which is Poland’s largest opposition party, has repeatedly accused PiS of pushing Poland towards Polexit. In his tweet, Budka noted that in 2018 PiS-backed president Andrzej Duda called the EU an “imaginary community which is of little relevance to Poles”.

In May this year, the education minister announced that Polish schools would teach that the EU is an “unlawful entity”. In July, the PiS speaker of parliament declared that “this is Poland, and not the EU”. The justice minister has recently accused Brussels of “waging a hybrid war” against Poland.

In response to Terlecki’s latest remarks, Janusz Kowalski – an MP from the ruling coalition who until this year also served as a deputy minister – said that it is “time for an assessment of whether the British path is better for Poland”.

Kowalski – like the justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro – is from junior coalition partner United Poland (Solidarna Polska), which is the most eurosceptic in the ruling camp. Senior figures from PiS, the main ruling party, have always insisted that they are not seeking to exit the EU, but rather to reform it.

Opinion polls regularly show that an overwhelming majority of the Polish public favour remaining in the EU. However, one recent survey found that support for leaving the bloc had reached its highest level in over a decade.

Main image credit: Slawomir Kaminski / Agencja Gazeta

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.