by Hartmut Bühl, Paris
“Poland is not lost yet,” is how the Polish national anthem begins.
After the Polish legislative elections of 15 October 2023, Europe breathed a sigh of relief, hoping to be able to count on a strong partner in the east again, after eight years of right-wing populist and anti-European politics led by the Law and Justice (PiS) government, trampling on the rule of law.
Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition which came second in the ballot, together with two pro-EU political groups, the Third Way and The Left, had been garnering enough support to oust PiS. Two months later, Tusk was sworn in as the new pro-European Prime Minister by Poland’s President Andrzej Duda. Since then, the new government is vigorously striving to restore democracy. Tusk, a veteran politician who already served as Poland’s Prime Minister in the past as well as President of the European Council in Brussels, has pledged to restore Poland’s position in the EU and double down on efforts to provide more aid to neighbouring Ukraine. Hailing his intention to “lead Poland back to the heart of the EU”, the Prime Minister made his first trip to Brussels confirming his will to make Poland a real partner again.
To underpin this, Tusk has called two convinced pro-Europeans to his cabinet: Radosław Sikorski as Foreign Minister as well as former ombudsman Adam Piotr Bodnar as Minister of Justice.
When asked in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 30 January 2024 if Poland was at risk, Minister Sikorski replied: “Putin has threatened Poland, Latvia and Finland. When he threatens a country, he means it. Too often we don’t take him seriously. There are Russian tanks in Belarus and now Russia has moved nuclear weapons there”.
And when in February 2024 Josep Borrell, on the way to Kyiv, made a short visit to Warsaw, the EU High Representative said: “the Polish government and the Polish society have been putting in a lot of effort. And I want to thank you for this important contribution to the overall European Union support to Ukraine”.
On 20 February, Justice Minister Bodnar briefed the European Council on his action plan to reestablish the rule of law, which includes amongst others: membership of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and full compliance with the decision of the Court of Justice of the EU; independence of justice via the appointment of judges by their peers; reform of constitutional courts…
Alas, Bodnar’s points on this long list will not come into force as long as the signature of President Duda, flying the colours of PiS, is not on the paper.
If Duda signs it, the European Commission will be in charge of verifying Poland’s new democratic approach, and Prime Minister Tusk will strive to implement his action plan in May 2024 at the latest, and thus in time for the 20th anniversary of Poland’s accession to the EU. Once the rule of law restored, the Polish government will have access to funding from the €60bn recovery plan.
If Duda were to veto it, the new coalition will have good arguments in the European election campaign to unmask the president as a stooge of the PiS party.
