With the new Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a different political wind is blowing in Warsaw. Berlin and Brussels are particularly pleased about this. The previous government of the right-wing nationalist PiS made many mistakes. Correcting them is Tusk’s greatest challenge. An overview of the most pressing questions.
1. Poland’s relationship with Germany and the EU has suffered under PiS
As the new head of state, Tusk seems predestined to provide a counterpoint to the nationalist politics with which the PiS alienated many European partners when it was in power. There was great jubilation in Brussels and Berlin when it became clear that Tusk would replace the right-wing nationalists under Jarosław Kaczyński in Warsaw. Finally, Tusk was President of the European Council between 2014 and 2019. He had previously held the office of Polish Prime Minister for seven years, maintaining good connections with Germany.
The PiS tried to interpret this pro-European, pro-German stance during the election campaign to Tusk’s disadvantage. With conspiracy theory whispers, she portrayed him as an agent of the EU and the federal government who was allegedly trying to undermine Poland’s national sovereignty. However, through this tactic, the PiS was unable to secure a majority capable of governing in the elections. The Polish population probably also punished the party because its policies ensured that the EU froze a total of around one hundred billion euros in funding.
Now the signs point to relaxation. Even before Tusk officially took office in mid-December, the EU Commission released more than five billion euros in pre-financing from the Corona economic stimulus program RePowerEU. At a meeting with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Tusk explained that he not only wanted to get more funds released, but also wanted to ensure that Poland played a “main role” in the EU again.
“Tusk has recognized how fatal it was that Polish expertise has hardly played a role in the EU’s Ukraine policy in recent years. This was due to the policies of the PiS, which ensured that Poland was isolated in the EU “, says Dagmara Jajeśniak-Quast, director of the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies, in an interview with ntv.de. Tusk wants to make Poland great again, but not in the spirit of the strategy that Donald Trump pursued during his term as US President under his credo “Make America Great Again”. It’s more about an “Eastern European focus on European integration,” says Jajeśniak-Quast. This is particularly important at the moment because the EU has given the green light to start accession negotiations with Ukraine.
2. The PiS encouraged corruption and dismantled the rule of law
The EU Commission froze the funding because the PiS government violated democratic principles with its campaign against the rule of law – and also did everything else to promote corruption in Poland. Tusk is rushing to introduce the first laws to reverse these developments. Just one week after the change of power, parliament passed a resolution to restore the political neutrality of public media, which had mutated into propaganda apparatuses under the PiS.
In addition, the new majority in the Polish parliament took a first step towards restoring the rule of law. The MPs appointed their four representatives to the National Judicial Council (KRS), which is responsible for appointing judges and monitoring their independence. In doing so, they replaced the members appointed by the PiS. Through a judicial reform in 2017, the right-wing nationalists ensured that their followers dominated the KRS, which, according to a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), led to the council losing its independence.
But the road to a functioning constitutional state is long. Due to the representatives appointed by the new parliament, the majority in the KRS only changes marginally – it is in fact still controlled by PiS members. The question also arises as to whether and how the judges appointed by the KRS should be removed from office without the judiciary collapsing. What makes matters worse is that President Sebastian Duda, a PiS member, has veto rights in the legislative process. “Convincing Duda of their concerns will be one of the biggest challenges for Tusk’s government, at least until Duda’s presidency ends in 2025,” says Jajeśniak-Quast.
3. Poles are sometimes skeptical about migration and the EU asylum pact
One thing first: When it comes to accepting Ukrainian refugees, Poland shows more solidarity than almost any other EU member state. According to the UNHCR, Poland took in almost a million refugees. Within the EU, only Germany offered refuge to more people from Ukraine, namely more than 1.1 million. However, Poles sometimes view migrants from other cultures with greater skepticism. This has repeatedly led to tensions in Brussels in recent years, particularly in the negotiations surrounding the EU asylum pact. This provides for more solidarity among the member states when distributing migrants, something that not only the Poles under the PiS government but also the Hungarians protested vigorously against.
On Wednesday, the European Council and the European Parliament announced that they had reached an agreement to launch the asylum compromise. If the relevant laws come into force, at least 30,000 migrants will be redistributed every year from the countries in which they arrive to other countries within the EU. States not willing to accept them can buy their freedom with 20,000 euros per migrant or finance projects in third countries.
It remains to be seen to what extent Tusk will approve of this compromise given the mood of the Polish population. Confronted with the PiS’s accusation that the new government did not want to protect the borders, the politician promised: “Poland’s border will be closed. You can protect the border and be humane at the same time.” His country can be “the safest place in the world if it works with its allies and protects its borders.” Jajeśniak-Quast is convinced that Tusk currently has more pressing problems than the EU asylum pact. “Most migrants don’t want to stay in Poland anyway. When they arrive, they move on to richer EU member states,” she says.
4. Frustrated construction and truck drivers cause tensions with Ukraine
Within the EU, Poland recognized much earlier than other countries what threatened Europe after Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula in 2014. Shortly before he transitioned from Polish prime minister to president of the European Council, Tusk issued a stern warning to Germany and other European neighbors about dependence on Russian gas. After Russia’s attack on Ukraine last year, Tusk’s words seem like a prophecy.
So it’s no surprise that Tusk now feels compelled to rouse Ukraine’s war-weary Western allies. Given the discussions in the US Congress about the release of further aid to Ukraine and similar debates in the EU, Tusk has committed himself to the goal of “demanding the full mobilization of the West in support of Ukraine,” as he says.
However, the protests by Polish truck drivers and farmers on the border with Ukraine are causing tensions in relations with the war-torn neighboring country. They demonstrated by blocking the roads at the border crossings, which was approved by the PiS. Both professional groups complain about competitive disadvantages caused by cheaper products and services from Ukraine after the EU launched so-called solidarity corridors to help Kiev transport grain after the start of the Russian war of aggression.
Tusk announced that he would lift the border blockade and reduce tensions. However, so far this has been difficult. Jajeśniak-Quast believes it makes sense to talk about compensation for the protesting professional groups in the EU. “The truck drivers and farmers from Ukraine actually have access to the EU internal market through the solidarity corridors, but do not have to adhere to the rules of this internal market like their Polish colleagues. This leads to distortions of competition,” she says. Financing these compensations would be easier if the Commission released the frozen funding after Tusk’s government corrected PiS’s mistakes, she adds.