Polish government has “abdicated” fight against pandemic, says opposition leader Tusk

The government has “abdicated” its responsibilities during the current fourth wave of the pandemic, says Donald Tusk, the leader of Poland’s largest opposition party. He accused it of ignoring the advice of its own expert advisers.

Despite rapidly rising infections – which the health minister says could soon hit record levels – the government so far rejected the idea of introducing new restrictions, saying that they would have high “social costs” and could prompt protests.

Tusk yesterday met members of the prime minister’s medical council before joining cross-party talks called by the speaker of parliament regarding the response to the fourth wave.

“These are very sad, tragic statistics that put Poland at the very top,” said Tusk, the leader of Civic Platform (PO), quoted by Interia, referring to yesterday’s 28,380 new Covid infections, the highest daily figure during the current wave of the pandemic.

“The main problem has been the fact that the government has never explained why it does not inform the public about the medical advisory board’s recommendations and why it does not implement them,” he added.

“Today we don’t need any political shows or PR ploys,” Tusk said. “All the tools are in the government’s hands. The government is doing nothing, the government has abdicated, the government is frightened off by the pandemic.”

Tusk also criticised the government’s vaccine rollout, which has resulted so far in only 54% of Poles being fully vaccinated. The opposition leader said his party does not support compulsory vaccinations for all but does want them implemented for medics and teachers, as recommended by the advisory board.

The PO leader also criticised Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who in recent days has been touring Europe and meeting leaders to discuss the crisis on the border with Belarus.

“The place of the prime minister today is in Warsaw, to say what he will do so that we do not have such dramatic data every day,” said Tusk. “The lives of many people depend on his decisions. His neglect means hundreds of unnecessary deaths every month.”

“If I say that two days ago more people died in Poland than in the USA, Brazil, and India, that gives some kind of impression,” he said, adding that, according to Eurostat data, Poland is the only country in Europe spending less on healthcare during the pandemic than it was a year earlier.

Tusk and other senior figures from all parties yesterday joined talks called by the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Elżbieta Witek, who is a member of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, to discuss the response to the increase in Covid cases. Beforehand, he described the meeting as “propaganda”.

Witek said afterwards that she saw “an opportunity to develop a common position”, adding that the meeting was about “finding common points” rather than presenting “concrete legislation”. Tusk was wrong if he thought it was supposed to serve propaganda purposes, she said, quoted by Onet.

But another opposition leader, Szymon Hołownia of Poland 2050 (Polska 2050), declared after the meeting that the government is avoiding restrictions because it “is scared of its own MPs and part of its electorate”.

The meeting demonstrated the government’s desire “to shift responsibility for the pandemic onto parliament and the opposition,” said Krzysztof Gawkowski, head of The Left’s (Lewica) parliamentary caucus, quoted by Onet. “The government has no proposals.”

But PiS sentor Marek Pęk called for the opposition to “show constructive cooperation, not just criticism”. The health minister, Adam Niedzielski, confirmed yesterday for the second time in recent days that, if infections do not begin to fall next month, then new restrictions may be introduced.

Main image credit: Flickr/PlatformaObywatelskaRP

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.