With elections in Poland approaching this fall, Rafal Trzakowski, mayor of Warsaw and one of the leaders of the center-right Civic Platform opposition party, is in a bind.
Poland’s capital could actually access billions in EU cash locked up in a dispute over law between the European Commission and the country’s nationalist government – but getting the money could help that government.
“I am in a deranged position as mayor of Warsaw because I want the money from the recovery fund to come to Poland as soon as possible, I want them to be used in Warsaw, I don’t want the people of Warsaw to spend on non-government funds. -Responsible behavior should be punished … But I also want the EU to be tough on the rule of law,” Trzakovsky told POLITICO.
The government led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party has carried out deep reforms in the judicial system since taking power in 2015. It claims it was needed to make the system more efficient and to get rid of judges with ties to the old. Communist rule. But skeptics – including the commission – saw it as an attempt to keep judges under tight political control.
As a result, Brussels is not paying out €36 billion in grants and loans from its pandemic recovery fund, fueling concerns that Poland is retreating on the bloc’s rule-of-law principles. To get the cash, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki agreed a series of “milestones” with the commission, including rolling back some of those reforms.
“For years, the populist government was trying to politicize the PiS courts and now under pressure from the European Union, and also from the opposition, they have started to back down,” said Trzakowski, who as a member of the European Parliament Worked with the European People’s Party from 2009 to 2013 before returning to Warsaw to serve briefly as Poland’s Minister of Europe.
The Polish parliament has passed a bill doing so, but on Friday President Andrzej Duda, usually an ally of PiS, refuse to sign the law, fearing that the positions of the judges he appointed might be jeopardized. Instead, he sent it for review by the Constitutional Tribunal, a body that decides whether laws agree with the Polish constitution.
This has thrown into doubt the timing of any release of the funds. Law and Justice are desperate to get the money before what are likely to be very tight parliamentary elections this autumn.
If Brussels pays up, PiS could get an electoral boost that could help it win a third term in office. But it could also provide a much-needed injection to continue Poland’s remarkable post-communist recovery; it’s been one of the world’s fastest growing economies Since the end of communist rule in 1989.
“My biggest concern is that the money that can transform Poland gets to Poland as soon as possible,” Trzakowski said. “The plan to rebuild Poland is a plan for a second wave of modernization. It really addresses questions of fighting climate change, clean air innovation, transportation, housing for the poor, even urban planning.
He’s hoping some of the money goes directly to city governments; Poland’s national government has attempted to punish cities led by the opposition.
political calculations
Trzakowski has been mayor of the country’s largest city since 2018, but is also seen as a possible prime ministerial candidate if the opposition wins this fall because he has a smaller negative voter turnout than the civic platform leader Donald TuskFormer Prime Minister and President of the European Council.
Asked if he sees himself as a potential prime minister, he said, “This is not the time to talk about personality.” He said that whoever gets a job in the event of a PiS defeat faces “the most difficult task in Poland in the last 30 years after a populist government, with such a polarized society, because of the war on our eastern border”. Getting out of the pandemic together.” Helping refugees, the energy crisis, inflation.
He said that ensuring victory would mean that opposition parties should bridge their differences and unite into larger electoral blocs. PiS currently has 36 percent turnout POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, while the Civic Platform-led coalition is at 31 percent. There is also a cluster of smaller opposition parties, each with less than 10 percent support.
Trzakovsky called on the opposition to “get their act together” and join forces to defeat PiS.
“We are fighting for one list, all political parties have retained their independence, but my only concern is that we go to the polls with as few lists as possible,” he said. “Because if it’s one or two, we can win. If it’s three, it gets tough. If it’s five or six, with the D’Hondt system [of apportioning votes], then you split the vote. The conservative right will unite and this will give them an advantage under the current system.
“These are unusual times, and so we should think less about competition and more about our own political parties and cooperation,” he said.