Next year’s elections will offer a choice between the “Polish” ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and the “German” opposition led by Donald Tusk, says PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński.
Speaking to supporters in the town of Nysa, Kaczyński referred back to the period between the 16th to 18th centuries when Poland had an elected monarchy. At that time, factions often formed that favoured foreign candidates, he noted.
“[Likewise] today we have in Poland a Polish faction – and that is us – and we have a German faction – and that is Civic Platform and the man who is the personification of that path,” said Kaczyński, quoted by news website Niezależna.
“Do you know what this man is called?” asked the PiS chairman, to which the crowd shouted “Tusk”. “And his first name is like a certain duck,” added Kaczyński.
Jarosław Kaczyński: Dziś mamy w Polsce dwa stronnictwa. Pierwsze to polskie – my do niego należymy. Drugie to stronnictwo niemieckie, w którym jest #PO. To D. #Tusk wspierał interesy Niemiec i Rosji.#wieszwięcej pic.twitter.com/6ne2Y9l3nX
— tvp.info 🇵🇱 (@tvp_info) September 25, 2022
Donald Tusk – the former Polish prime minister and president of the European Council – last year returned as leader of the centrist Civic Platform (PO) party, Poland’s largest opposition group.
“This gentleman has pushed German ideas here in Poland,” continued Kaczyński, who holds no formal government position but as PiS chairman is Poland’s de facto leader. “It also forced him to work very closely with Russia…to implement Bismarck’s old idea of a German-Russian alliance that rules Europe.”
“It is Germany’s current intention for us to be subject to them,” he added. “We do not want to be subordinated…We do not want to be under anyone’s boot…We have to resist it.”
Poland "has no reason to fulfil our obligations towards the EU" because Brussels has broken agreements, says Kaczyński.
He warned there is a “German-Russian plan to rule Europe” and that the opposition is working under “foreign orders” to “enslave Poland" https://t.co/94S2sRaKXX
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 8, 2022
Kaczyński’s remarks are the latest in a growing number of recent attacks on Germany, which he accuses of seeking to control the EU and install the Polish opposition as a puppet government in Warsaw. PiS has long sought to portray PO and Tusk as tools of German and Russian interests.
The opposition, by contrast, notes that PiS has forged close relations with figures sympathetic towards the Kremlin, such as Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini.
During his speech in Nysa, Kaczyński also claimed that Poland’s ongoing dispute with the EU over the rule of law and unblocking of Polish funds is not really a clash with Brussels but with Germany, which is trying to create a federal bloc under its dominance.
Main image credit: Patryk Ogorzalek / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
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.
