“I am convinced that Donald Tusk, as usual, is playing va banque and is comfortable with lies. I don’t think the December deadline he gave for payment of KPO money is possible. In this case, the European Commission would risk jeopardizing all its procedures and nullifying its previous position,” said Elżbieta Rafalska, PiS Member of the European Parliament and former Minister of Family Affairs, in an interview with wPolityce.pl .
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wPolityce.pl: PO President Donald Tusk announced after a meeting with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, that funds from the KPO could flow to Poland after the change of power in December, without completing the legislative process or implementation provide “milestones” regarding the judiciary. Do you believe this will actually happen?
Elżbieta Rafalska: I don’t want to believe it, but if it happened, it would absolutely confirm the statement that the reason for stopping the KPO funds for Poland was a political decision and an attempt to influence the elections in Poland. I remember that the Hungarians submitted several dozen legal solutions to launch their KPO. Merely submitting applications was not enough to receive the money. If it were to happen as Donald Tusk says, it would therefore be a gross injustice. I am convinced that Donald Tusk, as usual, is playing va banque and is comfortable with lies. I don’t think the December deadline he gave for payment of KPO money is possible. In this case, the European Commission would risk jeopardizing all its procedures and reversing its previous position.
In turn, it would be a shame for the PO chairman if, despite his announcement, no money would flow from the KPO to Poland this year.
Donald Tusk announced that he would release funding from the KPO the day after the election, so his statement definitely didn’t come true.
Later, KO politicians explained that it was a metaphor and that the money would be released the day after the formation of the new government.
There is no need to say that this is a metaphor; Tusk then clearly said that these funds would flow the day after the election. There is joy in the EU after the elections in Poland, Roberta Metsola and Ursula von der Leyen are happy about the likely change of power in our country, because the PiS government bothered them and was a difficult partner. They know they will have an easier time now. The realistic date for the disbursement of the KPO funds appears to be close to the local government elections, so that KO can be supported again in the next elections, with European Parliament elections taking place immediately afterwards. So if I were to specify a realistic date for the disbursement of these funds, it could be the end of the first quarter of 2024.
There has been much commentary recently on the issue of possible changes to the EU Treaties, including the abolition of the veto in the EU Council and the transfer of some further powers from Member States to the EU level. Is this a real threat or is there nothing to fear, because any changes will ultimately have to be ratified by the parliaments of all Member States, including Poland?
This absolutely cannot be underestimated. These are very dangerous proposals. Some people say that for now it is just a resolution of the European Parliament, and that there is still a long way to go before it is implemented – this is how everything starts in the EU. If the veto is abolished, the next change to the treaties will no longer require the unanimous consent of all countries. This is the greatest danger. There will be a need for a social information campaign that will clearly and transparently show how big a threat this is to Poland’s sovereignty.
However, for the time being, unanimity and ratification of these proposals by all parliaments of the Member States is required. PSL’s Marek Sawicki announced that his party would not agree to further federalization of the EU, and even Donald Tusk expressed skepticism about changing EU treaties. Do you believe these statements?
To me, the statements of Donald Tusk, who lied continuously during the election campaign, are not the statements of a credible politician. I don’t trust him at all. However, the PSL announcement, if it is a statement of the entire PSL led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, will provide some support when the issue of ratification of amendments to the EU treaties comes up in the Polish parliament.
Ultimately, even if Parliament agreed to amend the EU treaties, President Andrzej Duda could refuse to sign the ratification law.
However, I believe that there would be a majority in the Polish parliament that would reject such a centralization of the EU, which would deprive Poland of serious powers, including those in the areas of security, education and environmental protection. However, despite everything, there is work to be done on our part and we will certainly conduct an information campaign, not only to convince the majority in parliament of our arguments, but also to create social pressure that there is no permission to restrict our freedom to give. .
Yesterday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki presented the findings of the European Council summit and presented it as Poland’s success that the summit conclusions included the fact that the fight against human trafficking is part of the fight against extremism. Do you share this enthusiasm, is there anything to be happy about?
If it is possible to introduce provisions stating that migration is associated with an increase in terrorist threats, then that is good, but I am moderately enthusiastic about the European Council conclusions because they are not as binding as directives and hard legal solutions.
An example in this matter is the situation regarding the EU Regulation on the Conditionality Mechanism, which, according to the conclusions of the Council of Europe Summit in December 2020, would only be applied in cases of corruption and financial fraud, but in practice it turned out differently…
Yes, at that time we also had European Council conclusions, which included certain statements. The conclusions of the European Council summit are of the same importance as justifications for laws in Poland; they present only certain intentions, and the most important are specific decisions.
Source: wPolityce