Large “anti-Polexit” protests across Poland in support of EU membership

Large demonstrations have taken place today across Poland in support of the country’s continued membership of the European Union. They were called in response to a constitutional court ruling that the opposition and many experts warn paves the way for “legal Polexit” from the EU. The government denies that.

At the main protest in Warsaw, between 80,000 and 100,000 had already gathered by 7 p.m., with more still arriving, announced city hall. The municipal authorities are under the control of the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party, whose leader Donald Tusk had first announced the demonstration.

“The pseudo-tribunal – a group of people dressed up in judges’ robes – decided, under the orders of the chairman of the ruling party, to lead our homeland out of the EU,” Tusk told the crowd. “I felt obliged at this critical, pivotal moment to raise the alarm.”

On Thursday, the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) found parts of the EU treaties to be incompatible with Poland’s constitution. The court is widely regarded as being under the influence of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. Its chief justice, Julia Przyłębska, is a close associate of PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński.

The court is also seen by many as illegitimate. Przyłębska was engineered into her position in an apparent breach of procedures. The European Court of Human Rights has found that the TK is not a “tribunal established by law” because it contains a judge illegitimately appointed as part of the government’s judicial policies.

Among those who spoke on stage after Tusk was Wanda Traczyk-Stawska, a 94-year-old veteran of the Warsaw Uprising against Nazi German occupation in 1944. “We have always been in Europe and no one will lead us out of it,” she declared, quoted by Polsat News.

Nearby, a counter-demonstration organised by far-right nationalists tried to drown out Traczyk-Stawska. “Be quiet, stupid man,” she said in response to a heckler. “I am a soldier who remembers how blood was shed, how my colleagues died. I am here to make this call in their name.”

Similar pro-EU demonstrations took place in dozens of other towns and cities around Poland. In Łódź, thousands gathered outside PiS headquarters. On Kraków’s market square, around 9,000 protested under the slogan “We’re staying. The government is going”, reports Gazeta Wyborcza.

As well as the centrist PO, the protests were supported by The Left (Lewica), the second largest opposition group in parliament, and Poland 2050 (Polska 2050), a recently formed centrist group that is the third most popular party according to polls.

Figures from the national-conservative PiS party, however, ridiculed both the protests and the idea that the government wants to lead Poland out of the EU. “We are and will be members of the EU,” tweeted deputy prime minister Jacek Sasin. “Polexit is an invention of a weak opposition that has no other ideas.”

The provincial sanitary authorities in Warsaw also issued a negative opinion on today’s demonstration, which it said violated coronavirus restrictions on the size of public gatherings. Opposition politicians accused the health officials of being under the political influence of PiS.

After Tusk’s call for people to gather today, far-right leader Robert Bąkiewicz responded by issuing his own appeal for “all Polish patriots” to join a nearby counter-demonstration. He described Tusk and his supporters as a “pro-German fifth column”.

In the end, only a few dozen people attended Bąkiewicz’s demonstration, reports Wprost. The nationalists attempted to drown out the pro-EU speeches by playing “patriotic rock music” and “shouting in honour of President Andrzej Duda”, who is a PiS ally, said the newspaper.

Polling has repeatedly shown that a large majority of Poles favour remaining in the EU, though one survey this year found the highest proportion in favour of leaving the bloc in over a decade.

Since coming to power in 2015, the PiS government has repeatedly clashed with Brussels, in particular over the rule of law. The party insists that it favours Poland remaining in the EU. But it argues that European institutions have gone beyond their remit and are interfering in member states’ domestic affairs.

Main image credit: Lukasz Cynalewski / 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.