US congressmen inform EU of concerns over rule of law in Poland under Tusk government

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Five Republican members of the US House Committee on the Judiciary, including its chairman, have written to the European Commission expressing “deep concern” about the rule of law in Poland, in particular that the government is “weaponizing the justice system” against the conservative opposition.

The letter, sent on Tuesday to Michael McGrath, the EU’s commissioner for democracy, justice, the rule of law and consumer protection, is signed by House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan as well as fellow members Darrell Issa, Chris Smith, Warren Davidson and Andy Harris.

The congressmen note that, since coming to power in December 2023, the current Polish government, led by former European Council President Donald Tusk, has “pursued legal actions against [the] political opposition, the Law and Justice (PiS) party”.

These actions, they claim, “appear designed to silence and damage [the government’s] political opposition ahead of Poland’s 2025 presidential election”, the first round of which is taking place this Sunday.

As examples, the congressmen note that the government’s majority in parliament stripped PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński of legal immunity to face a defamation case. They also note that a former top PiS aide “died of a heart attack just a few days after she was denied access to an attorney during an interrogation” by prosecutors.

Elsewhere in the letter, the House Judiciary Committee members point to alleged mistreatment of a PiS-linked priest, Michał Olszewski, detained on corruption charges and a deputy prime minister’s call to withdraw a conservative TV station’s broadcasting licence.

“Together, these actions raise concerns about whether the Tusk government is upholding the EU’s democratic values and whether it will further attempt to silence its political rivals by using anti-democratic laws,” they wrote.

The congressmen also noted the “stark contrast” between how the EU criticised the actions of Poland’s former PiS government and how it “does not appear to as readily criticise the Tusk government for its questionable actions”.

“This apparent double standard raises concerns about the EU’s impartiality and its commitment to protecting fundamental rights across all member states,” they wrote. “The EU’s silence may embolden the Tusk government’s censorship efforts…which could ultimately result in the censorship of American speech.”

The congressmen asked McGrath, who became the EU’s justice commissioner in December last year, to give them a “briefing on the EU’s position and actions regarding these troubling developments”.

Since Tusk’s government – a pro-EU coalition ranging from left to centre right – took office, it has vigorously pursued legal action against PiS officials over alleged crimes committed during the former ruling party’s time in power from 2015 to 2023.

Under PiS’s rule, a wide range of legal experts, international organisations and both Polish and European courts pointed to numerous violations of the rule of law and other democratic standards by the party.

However, in its efforts to address those violations, Tusk’s administration has itself been accused of violating laws and democratic norms, in particular by PiS but also in some cases by courts and independent experts.

Last September, Tusk himself admitted that “if we want to restore the constitutional order and the foundations of liberal democracy…[we] will probably make mistakes or commit actions that, according to some legal authorities, will be inconsistent or not fully compliant with the provisions of the law”.

A poll published in January this year found that more Poles thought the rule of law in Poland had got worse than better in the first year since Tusk’s government took power.

However, the EU has welcomed the change in government. Last year, the European Commission unlocked €137 billion in funds for Poland it had previously frozen due to rule-of-law concerns when PiS was in power.

PiS has pointed out that the funds were unblocked despite Tusk’s government implementing no major reforms, arguing that this simply proves the money in question had always been frozen by Brussels for political reasons, in order to bring about a change in government.

PiS has long enjoyed close relations with its fellow conservatives in the US Republican Party, including President Donald Trump, who earlier this month met with PiS-backed presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki in the White House.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr (under CC BY-SA 2.0)

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.