Kaczyński will lead Poland out of EU if PiS win elections, claims Tusk

Oct 13, 2023 | Politics

If the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party wins a third term at this Sunday’s elections, it will “take Poland out of the European Union”, claims opposition leader Donald Tusk. He says PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński has privately told him in the past that he opposes EU membership.

However, the ruling party and its leader have repeatedly emphasised that they have no desire for “Polexit”. As recently as last week, Kaczyński declared his support for EU membership, albeit with the proviso that he wants Brussels to better respect the sovereignty of member states.

Tusk made his latest claims during an interview this week with broadcaster Polsat. He and his Civil Coalition (KO) have repeatedly claimed in the past that PiS – which has regularly clashed with Brussels – is seeking to engineer Polexit.

“I have heard from Jarosław Kaczyński more than once, back in the days when he was able to talk normally with people, that for him being in the EU is a difficult burden to bear,” Tusk told Polsat. “He told me privately that the only reason he accepts Poland’s presence in the EU is that the majority of Poles want it.”

“He said that if the mood changes, it would be better for Poland to leave the EU,” added Tusk. “This is what these elections are really about.”

Tusk and Kaczyński both have their roots in the anti-communist Solidarity movement of the 1980s, before becoming prominent figures in the democratic system that emerged after 1989. Over the last two decades, they have grown to be bitter rivals.

“I consider myself an expert on EU affairs and an expert on Kaczyński,” said Tusk, who served for five years as president of the European Council. “Please trust me on this matter: Kaczyński is taking Poland out of the EU. Will it happen? No, but only because we will win these elections.”

Tusk has recently made a number of similar claims. At a rally on 4 October, he declared that PiS is “planning systematically, in cold blood, to take Poland out of the EU”. The following day, he described the elections as a referendum on whether Poland would remain in the EU.

A poll published yesterday by IBRiS for Radio Zet, a leading broadcaster, found that a significant minority of Poles, 35%, agree with Tusk that, if PiS wins the election, it will seek to take Poland out of the EU. However, a majority, 56%, disagree.

Another poll on Monday, by Kantar for TVN, found that 54% of Poles believe the PiS government’s actions are “leading to Poland’s withdrawal from the EU” while only 32% think they are “strengthening Poland’s position in the EU”.

But Kaczyński himself has repeatedly declared his support for Poland remaining in the EU and reforming it from the inside. “We want Poland to be in the EU, but it must change,” he told supporters in Lublin on Saturday. Brussels must “respect the rights of nations and the rights of states”.

At another rally in Kazimierz Wielka last week, Kaczyński warned that “there is a plan in the EU to deprive nation states of all powers”. Speaking in Kraków this week, the PiS chairman again warned of “projects that are being presented in the EU that would, if implemented, eliminate Polish independence”.


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Main image credit: SHOX/Flickr (under CC BY-NC 2.0)

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