The leader of the far-right party Law and Justice (PiS) and former Polish prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has defended that Poland should open a process of talks with the European Union with a view to a possible exit from the community bloc. In his view, this would be the last available instrument to force profound changes in the European institutional architecture, after reiterating his demand to abolish the European Commission.
In a conference dedicated to the future of the community project, Kaczynski has recalled that "The final provisions of the Treaty on European Union and of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union specify the conditions under which a country can leave the European Union. It all begins with negotiations, and we simply must start them", according to the newspaper "".
The opposition leader has admitted that it is a "difficult and risky method", although he considers that it would make it possible to increase pressure to promote structural changes in the European institutions. "The situation is so serious that it is worth resorting to it if the others fail", he added.
Kaczynski has justified his position by assuring that "a very significant part" of Europe’s current challenges are due to "the political configuration" of the continent. In this regard, he has lashed out at the community executive by stating that "The European Commission is a very harmful body for the future of the Union and for its current structure and functioning. It should not exist". According to what he has said, this view is shared by "many Poles" and he has described the Commission as the "source" of a large part of the bloc’s difficulties.
Reaction of the Tusk Government
Kaczynski’s words have provoked an immediate response from Donald Tusk’s executive, current prime minister and former president of the European Council between 2014 and 2019, which has interpreted these statements as part of the internal political "fight" in Poland. "A hard fight. I have no intention of losing it, even if not everyone plays with me", Tusk stated on social media, alluding to the eurosceptic turn of the main opposition force.
In the same vein, the Minister of Defense, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, has strongly criticized the Law and Justice proposal, recalling the magnitude of the resources coming from Brussels that the country has received, among them those intended to strengthen the Armed Forces and the national defense industry. "Poland has received from the EU hundreds of billions of euros, much more than it has contributed. They are roads, railways, rural development, investments and access to the common market," he underscored.
The Defense Minister has defended that the European Union "needs to be reformed where it needs improvements" but "not threaten to leave," and has asked the opposition to clarify before the legislative elections scheduled for November 2027 whether its objective is or is not to take Poland out of the bloc. Kaczynski, who was head of Government between 2006 and 2007 and has led since 2003 the ultra-conservative Law and Justice party, the most voted formation in the last three legislative elections, aspires to return to power next year.