Poland condemns EU chief von der Leyen’s “scandalous, anti-democratic” remarks

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has condemned the “scandalous” remarks this week by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about Poland, Hungary and Italy. It says they are further evidence of the EU’s “anti-democratic” interference in the domestic politics of member states.

In a speech at Princeton University, von der Leyen addressed concerns over the national-conservative governments in Budapest and Warsaw – which have regularly clashed with Brussels over the rule of law – and the potential victory of hard-right parties in Italy’s upcoming election.

“If things go in a difficult direction [in Italy] – and I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland – we have tools [to deal with it],” said the commission president.

She also referred to Poland more specifically, saying that the government there “does not want to change laws in the way we have [agreed] to restore the independence of the judiciary”. Therefore the EU “will not disburse any money…[until] they do the reforms agreed upon”.

The latter remarks referred to an ongoing dispute over around €36 billion in EU post-pandemic recovery funds for Poland, which the European Commission has frozen over rule-of-law concerns. Warsaw, however, insists it has met the EU’s demands and that the money is being blocked for political reasons.

Speaking today to the Polish Press Agency (PAP), Radosław Fogiel, a PiS spokesman, said that von der Leyen’s latest remarks “prove what we as PiS have been saying for a long time: that decisions concerning, for example, the [recovery funds] are purely political”.

“Her speech was full of beautiful words about democracy, but when it comes down to it, it turns out that von der Leyen is openly trying to influence the democratic processes in a democratic state, suggesting that if she does not like Italians’ choice, the right tools – as she put it – will be used,” said Fogiel.

“This is exactly the same anti-democratic point of view presented by the Polish opposition,” he continued. “They adhere to the principle that democracy is great provided that ‘our own’ win.”

“It is clear that this is a group that has completely failed to internalise the principles of democracy and does not understand what it is all about,” Fogiel concluded. “They consider it only a facade that is to legitimise their own governments, and in fact they do not care about the choice of citizens, they do not take it into account.”

Former foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski, now a PiS MEP, also condemned von der Leyen’s “blackmail and interference in the democratic process”. He warned that they would further turn Italians against EU institutions and encourage more of them to “vote for parties that defend sovereignty”.

“In the long run, it could be even worse,” Waszczykowski told PAP. “If another state is stigmatised and [targeted] with instruments beyond European law, it may come to the conclusion that it will be more comfortable outside the EU. The UK, apart from a temporary period of problems, has suffered no harm. It shows that there is life outside the EU.”

PiS has in recent years sought to build closer ties with other right-wing and far-right eurosceptic parties in the EU, including Italy’s Lega and Brothers of Italy parties, which are expected to do well in the upcoming elections.

The grouping – which also includes France’s Marine Le Pen – say they want to create an EU in which member states have more power and European institutions have less.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however, such efforts have been put on hold, publicly at least, given that those parties’ generally sympathetic position towards the Kremlin is at odds with PiS’s strongly anti-Russian line.

Main image credit: © European Union 2022 – Source: EP (under CC BY 4.0)

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.