“Tusk’s party hasn’t had the best streak in the media lately, and hosting the leaders of the largest group in the European Parliament is always an event that draws the attention of the public. On the other hand, it is quite a strange, nervous, not to say panicky reaction. If they claim to be innocent, what are they afraid of?” – asks PiS MEP Izabela Kloc in an interview with the portal wPolityce.pl.
wPolityce.pl: Can it really be assumed that the PO wanted to cancel the EVP meeting in Warsaw because of the recent search of the EPP headquarters by the Belgian police?
Isabella Clock: And what else could be the reason for canceling the political event after which Civic Platform promised so much? Tusk’s party hasn’t had the best streak in the media lately, and hosting the leaders of the largest group in the European Parliament is always an event that draws the attention of the public. On the other hand, it is quite a strange, nervous, not to say panicky reaction. If – as they claim – they are innocent, what are they afraid of? Unless Tusk is afraid that the scandal will hit Manfred Weber hard, and appearing with him in this situation would be a political “kiss of death”.
Is PO leader Donald Tusk somehow missing out on the whole EPP situation?
Looking at Tusk’s actions, he’s been losing everything lately. The favorable media organized a scandalous campaign against St. John Paul II, but Polish public opinion was not manipulated by the false message and integrated even more around the legacy of Karol Wojtyła. It’s similar to Tusk’s meetings with voters. Billed as a program offensive by PO, they became a veritable festival of populism and empty words. Tusk’s program can be summed up in one sentence: “PiS has got to go, and we’ll see each other later.” This is not enough to govern such a large and recently strategic country as Poland. The EPP’s problems will certainly hurt the PO leader, although I believe that Tusk and his foreign allies are worthy of each other. Reasonable people expect little from them.
Will Donald Tusk try to convince public opinion in Poland that the issue is “political” and of some importance to Polish society and voters?
Tusk and the entire PO will do everything they can to convince the Polish public that the case is political, but the Belgian and German police think otherwise. According to the information released so far, Mario Voigt, the right-hand man and campaign manager of Manfred Weber (the current head of the EVP), is accused of taking a bribe from an internet marketing company. The case dates back to the campaign for the European Parliament in 2019. The investigation has only just begun and it cannot be ruled out that more suspects will turn up. Sooner or later we’ll find out if Voight acted alone or if his fellow party members knew about his sticky hands, and let me remind you that Tusk was the chairman of the EVP as of 2019, replaced by Weber last year. EPP spokesman Pedro Lopez issued a rather bizarre statement, according to which the decision to cancel the meeting is linked to “desperate efforts by Law and Justice, its MEPs, partners and state-controlled media to bring civic platform leader Donald Tusk into in connection with the raid.” By doing so, the EVP achieved the opposite effect than intended. Even if they wanted to silence the echoes of the corruption scandal in our country, now – when they broke off their summit in Warsaw – they only aroused the interest of Polish public opinion.
Where are these ‘European values’ and ‘rule of law’ that politicians from groups like the EPP or S&D try to preach about?
Polish socialists in the European Parliament include Leszek Miller and Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz. I come from a generation that remembers the times of the People’s Republic of Poland very well. Both were important functionaries of the system that brought poverty, repression and humiliation to Poles. The mere fact that such people can now lecture us is a blow to the rule of law and a violation of European values and rules of decency. On the other hand, EPP politicians, in the international and domestic backyard, irresistibly remind me of Sławomir Nowak, one of Donald Tusk’s close associates, accused of founding and leading a criminal group. For such people, politics is just a way to multiply personal wealth and reap the fruits of power. Unfortunately, such people have a wide field to show off, including brands. by the EPP, the EU’s climate policy, with its restrictive constraints and boundaries, allowing some to become wealthy on an unprecedented scale and driving others into energy poverty. In general, with the current balance of power in the EU institutions, “European values” and “the rule of law” serve as a fig leaf to mask the dirty struggle for money and power.
Is there really any will on the part of the EU institutions or the Member States concerned to fight corruption scandals?
So far, only the police and the prosecutor’s office are fighting corruption scandals in the EU institutions. Their effectiveness is invaluable because it has opened our eyes to a phenomenon that was previously unknown or very deeply masked, namely corruption in the European Union, which has declared itself the guardian of the rule of law and values. The problem is that law enforcement agencies can identify and punish the guilty, but they will not change the political, business and social climate in the EU institutions, conducive to the formation of a gray zone of pathological arrangements and corrupt connections. The European Union needs internal revitalization and deep cleaning, but only the Europeans themselves can do this with their electoral decisions. If, after next year’s elections to the European Parliament, power remains in the hands of groups with the green, red and rainbow flags, we should not count on positive changes.
Or maybe we are also dealing with some kind of political games between the EPP and the socialists as the two strongest groups in the EP?
It cannot be ruled out that we have a situation like in good American crime movies, where two mafias fighting for influence make dirty publicity about competitors in order to weaken their influence. The “Qatar” scandal continues to spread in wider circles. Let’s not forget that the main characters are Eva Kaili, former deputy head of the European Parliament representing the Socialists, and former MEP Antonio Panzeri, who supposedly cooperates well with the prosecutor’s office and names politicians who may also be involved in unclear interests. Negative unrest around the socialists could have improved the ratings of the European People’s Party. Originally a Christian Democrat, the EPP now fits into the left’s ideological narrative and fights for the same voters as the Greens, Liberals and Socialists. A corruption scandal involving a close associate of Manfred Weber may divert public attention from the still hot topic of Kaila and her connections. Regardless of the outcome of these two investigations, we can be sure of one thing: scandals involving socialists and now EPP politicians have left lasting damage to the image of the EU institutions and it will take years of work to restore it. to get. reputation and public trust.
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-OUR INTERVIEW. Fear in Platforma and canceled convention. Czarnecki on EPL: “The devil wears a chasuble and jingles his tail during mass”
– EVP cancels meeting in Warsaw. Euractiv: PO asked for it. Tusk himself resigned earlier. Rode? He was afraid of criticism in the media
– Pale anxiety in the PO. Złotowski: Is it EVP colleagues who don’t want to appear with Tusk, or does Tusk know that the scandal will hurt the PO?
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Source: wPolityce