“PiS did not invent the topics of the referendum questions. We didn’t pull them out to make it political during the election. These topics have emerged from initiatives by EU institutions. And the PO does not dare to side with Poland’s interests and instead of giving Poland the right to vote, fearing the EU’s reaction, “pulls out the ballots”, i.e. calls for a boycott of the referendum, PiS MP Tadeusz Cymański assesses in an interview with the wPolityce.pl portal.
wPolityce.pl: Why is the opposition, especially the PO, so hesitant about the upcoming referendum? After all, it violates the rules of democracy in its purest form. PO politicians can’t pretend not to see it.
Tadeusz Cymanski: All four referendum questions are important, but the issue of immigrants is crucial and decisive. And I think that was the reason for the PO to boycott the referendum.
We must return to the parliamentary resolution of 15 June 2023 “Objection to the EU mechanism for the relocation of illegal migrants”, where we read that “the Sejm of the Republic of Poland strongly opposes the attempt to introduce mechanisms for the forced relocation of illegal migrants at the level of the European Union on the basis of the regulations of the European Parliament and of the Council… in the form agreed by the Council of the European Union on 8 June 2023, with the opposition of Poland and Hungary.”
I will reiterate ‘attempts’, not the fact that the EU is imposing forced relocation mechanisms for illegal migrants. And what happened? Well, Civic Platform and the Left drew their cards. And yet their MPs might oppose it. Why did they not support this resolution?
If the PO supported this resolution, it would offend its leaders in the European Union: EU elites, Manfred Weber, etc. If they were against it, they would obviously offend the Poles.
So they chose to walk away from responsibility for their choice by drawing ballots, although – in my opinion – the Platform is not at all in favor of forced relocation mechanisms for illegal migrants. The left is in a much better position because it is much more liberal, has its own base and essentially has much less to lose.
Civic Platform’s current desperate attitude towards the referendum is based on the need to be consistent with “drawing the card”?
I would add that such behavior is coupled with a very intelligent, clever and very deceptive attempt to blur the difference between an imposed immigrant and an expected migrant on call. And the fact that we have accepted so many migrants from Ukraine has nothing to do with it. Even if there was no war in Ukraine, our position on the resolution should be the same, because regardless of the circumstances, each country must decide for itself who, how and in what form it wants to accept.
Going back to your question: On ideological or ideological issues – the death penalty, abortion, euthanasia, ritual animal slaughter or even access to guns – there was never party discipline. The first to break it and demonstrate his power was Tusk, when he said publicly that if someone doesn’t vote for abortion within 12 weeks, there’s no place for him on the lists. And that currently influences the attitude of PO MPs. They are afraid to oppose Tusk.
Speaking of referendum questions – keep in mind that we, i.e. PiS, did not invent the topics covered by these questions. We didn’t pull them out to make it political during the election. These topics have emerged from initiatives by EU institutions. And the PO does not dare to side with Poland’s interests and instead of giving Poland the right to vote, fearing the EU’s reaction, “takes away the ballots”, ie calls for a boycott of the referendum. Donald Tusk has indeed solemnly annulled this referendum. Because citizens who vote against immigration and forced relocation will show their “cohones”, they – unlike their favorites who behaved cowardly and yet are on Berlin’s belt – will show their values, their opinions and beliefs.
So the case of the PO’s attitude to the referendum tells us a lot about the Civic Platform itself?
It makes me ask the question: what kind of civic platform are you?
The platform cannot unequivocally cut itself off from its client, and the war we are in – the war over the retirement age, the willkommen policy, the privatization of Poland by capital from the West – is not arising in Poland, but abroad. Here it is necessary to understand the so-called European policy.
PiS hinders the implementation of this policy and makes it difficult, for example, to submit requests to the Tribunal to check whether EU regulations and provisions are in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. So it’s not surprising that Tusk says that PiS is evil incarnate.
As for the referendum questions – looking at the PiS spots, it’s easy to see that the three questions have some connotations and correlations to the PO’s past votes in the Sejm. Who voted against the barrier at the border with Belarus? Who raised the retirement age and then voted against the reintroduction of 60 and 65?
In three cases, referendum questions are put to the opposition: do you still think so? If not, support this referendum. It is therefore not surprising that they insist on a boycott of the referendum out of cowardice. With this referendum we can clearly see what the Civic Platform looks like.
It is also worth noting – finally – that the opposition on this is mixed. Only Tusk annulled the referendum. Other opposition parties are much more authentic than the fake and painted PO in that sense.
What will this election campaign look like?
Everything promises – unfortunately and especially by PO – that the campaign will be very brutal and at a low, substantive level. It gets more emotional. Polish politics is closely intertwined with European politics and not all parties represent Polish interests. Despite everything, Poland today has a strong voice in the European Union. It is also questionable whether this will not change after the elections. One can be shocked by Manfred Weber’s statements, but these statements have one advantage: they are sincere. Perhaps reckless, but sincere. It wasn’t like he was giving three thumbs up to the opposition victory. We couldn’t blame him then. He does not hide that his “der feind” – and therefore not an opponent, but an enemy – is PiS.
Source: wPolityce