EU conflicts are waging a vicious war on the future of Poland’s independence

Zbigniew Ziobro did not say anything when he asked the Polish Supreme Court to rule as the new EU. Moral practice it was in accordance with the laws of the land.

“I have no doubt whatsoever. . . contradictory details, “Poland’s justice minister said, arguing that EU legislation – to raise funds from Brussels to comply with the law – could be used to” corrupt “Poland.

With the exception of the Brussels punchbag, there was a second, less well-known criticism of Ziobro. Poland may be closed mechanism in December 2020 against the EU budget. But in the end, Poland’s prime minister – as well as Ziobro’s main enemy – Mateusz Morawiecki did not do this.

The two-sided Ziobro salvo was a symbol of courage took action in the middle decade of Poland fighting Brussels on the rule of law. But it was also an example of how relations with the EU are part of the struggle for the future of Poland’s independence between rival factions in the conservative-nationalist ruling coalition.

In the meantime, Poland’s independence is still dominated by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the founder of Law and Justice (PiS) – the largest party in the ruling coalition – and the country’s most powerful politician. But the younger generation of politicians, with Ziobro and Morawiecki in their midst, are running for both parliamentary elections, which are due to take place by 2023, as well as the date on which Kaczynski’s rule ends.

“Kaczynski’s retirement will be the beginning of a division on the right… And I could not imagine Morawiecki and Ziobro on the same boat without him,” said Wojciech Szacki, a political scientist at Polityka Insight. They have different ideas, different visions, different origins, different goals, so there really will be no peace between them.

Morawiecki is a middle-aged relative. The multilingual user entered politics through the Ministry of Development and Finance before being appointed prime minister by Kaczynski in 2017, among other things to boost relations with the EU after Beata Szydlo’s leadership.

Ziobro, in contrast, is a hardliner. He served as law minister in the first Kaczynski regime in the 2000s, before being fired from PiS for questioning. He then founded his own party, United Poland, which has taken a firm stand on everything from LGBT rights to climate change. Later in the desert, the party became one of two PiS allies before returning in 2015.

United Poland has only 19 MPs in Poland’s 460-seat basement, and elections do not provide much support. But since PiS ‘second young ally – the Jaroslaw Gowin Coalition – left the government in August, taking away their majority and forcing them to include more people in voting, United Poland’s votes have become more important. .

Ziobro and his allies followed other EU policies that Morawiecki approved, including the bloc’s climate goals. One of the most significant threats occurred in December, when Janusz Kowalski, the United States MP for Poland, demanded that Konrad Szymanski, the European minister and Morawiecki’s ally, step down, criticizing several aspects of Poland-EU relations.

Morawiecki allies say they have doubts about the EU’s actions in Poland. But he says he still hopes to end the long-running legal crisis that has pushed Brussels to action. delay in acceptance billions of euros in revenue, arguing that Ziobro’s regulation and invasion of the EU hampers its efforts to do so.

“Prime Minister. . . very fond of finding connections. But there are red lines that even he would not accept, ”said a person close to the government. “And there is a lot of internal pressure, especially from the Ministry of Justice, to not help in negotiations.”

Ziobro’s supporters oppose such a view, and argue instead that Poland’s mistake was not taking a solid line with Brussels.

“More and more politicians in PiS see that we were right in this conflict with Morawiecki. That we would have fought harder against the EU, that Ziobro had won the conflict,” Kowalski said.

“There should have been money, and there was none; Everything was designed to be great, and it is not. And why do people ask? Who was right, who wasn’t? In short, we were right. ”

Increasingly, misunderstandings have led people to reconsider the duration of the alliance. However, experts are skeptical that any pre-divorce vows for the 2023 election could affect either party. PiS would be limited to most members of parliament without a coalition partner. And if United Poland ran on its own, it would not be clear that it would lose 5% of its representation in parliament.

“The thing that keeps United Poland in the arena is that I think the out-of-state situation with PiS is unfortunate,” said Aleks Szczerbiak, a professor of political science at the University of Sussex in the UK. “[Gowin’s departure] he strengthens. . . But on the other hand it is a warning of what could happen [if they fall out with PiS]. ”

However, over time, many observers think that United Poland has many ambitions. “I think Ziobro has never given up on the idea of ​​creating a party that can live an independent life outside of PiS,” Szacki said. “He is preparing for the anti-Europe protests as soon as Kaczyński retires, and freedom must resume.”