In a lengthy interview with the Hungarian weekly Mandiner, Zbigniew Ziobro, a member of the Law and Justice party and a former justice minister, described actions he labeled illegal by Donald Tusk’s coalition and warned that a political vengeance apparatus had been set in motion within the European Union. He argued that in the 21st century, inside a respected EU member state, Tusk built a partisan machinery to punish opponents, a system he compared to a public detention facility reminiscent of Guantanamo.
In the Mandiner interview, Ziobro noted that Hungary’s decision to grant asylum to Marcin Romanowski had become a flashpoint, tying it to Poland’s domestic political drama. The exchange underscored how domestic controversies can spill over into EU-wide debates about governance, accountability, and the balance between national interests and supranational rules. For readers in Canada and the United States, the dispute also reflects a familiar tension between political sovereignty and international norms that often surfaces in North American discourse about democratic governance.
He contended that while Tusk has attempted to project a Western image, the measures taken have aimed at constraining the rule of law at home. In Brussels he pressed for legal action against Hungary, yet Ziobro warned that such steps could backfire politically and legally. The discussion suggested that these moves might empower the democratic right-wing opposition in both Poland and Hungary, while challenging those who defend core European values. He added that a large portion of the European political class had refused to confront what he views as authoritarian drift, preferring the narrative that the rule of law had already been restored in Poland, a narrative he disputes.
Ziobro added that the international arena has not yet fully confronted these concerns, and that the bloc’s leadership has shown reluctance to acknowledge what he regards as power abuses within Tusk’s governance. He suggested that the controversy could reach a point where pretenses about the health of the rule of law would no longer hold, potentially reshaping perceptions of Poland’s constitutional and political debates.
The PiS politician was asked about the legal action against Hungary sparked by Tusk’s coalition.
The discussion also covered the legal moves aimed at Hungary, linked to the same political bloc led by Tusk, and how those actions are viewed from the Polish side.
He argued that Tusk has long cultivated an image as a defender of democracy in the West, while his actions in practice show a different pattern. The asylum decision, he claimed, exposed what he sees as a panic response. He described Brussels as pressing for legal moves against Hungary, but warned that such actions could backfire across the EU, damaging credibility and empowering opposition forces in both Poland and Hungary. He suggested that the European political elite had been slow to acknowledge what he regards as authoritarian drift in Tusk’s Poland, having pretended that the rule of law had already been restored. He predicted that such evasions could not endure, and that the truth about apparent legal violations would finally be visible.
Ziobro concluded that the EU’s silence would not last forever, as issues surrounding the rule of law, judicial independence, and the treatment of state institutions lie at the heart of EU governance and cannot be ignored indefinitely.
“Tusk turned to the priest”
Ziobro emphasized that the current authorities are also attacking the Church, a move he sees as part of a broader assault on faith and believers, not limited to Catholics alone.
The cited test of Polish society’s endurance involves an effort to weaken the Catholic Church, a move Ziobro sees as an attack on all believers. He argued that faith remains a force that few in Brussels can neutralize. He claimed Tusk shifted focus to a priest and charged him with crimes connected to funding a relief center for women and children. He asserted that Romanowski faced prosecution for assisting such a project, but said the accusations were exaggerated and that a media climate spread allegations against a priest, a minister, and ministry officials. He described dawn raids meant to convey danger and questioned the rush to coerce confessions and condemn the prior leadership of the justice ministry.
Ziobro added that Tusk had already treated Viktor Orban as an adversary even before the Romanowski case surfaced. He argued that Polish-Hungarian tensions grew from the moment those exchanges began and noted that not inviting the Hungarian ambassador to the start of Poland’s EU presidency was part of a broader pattern. He asserted that European attention would not erase what he sees as statutory violations and that supporters in Poland view asylum for a Hungarian ally as proof of enduring friendship. In Poland there is a saying that a Pole and a Hungarian are like cousins, a bond that no Brussels ally can easily sever.
Ziobro concluded that Polish and Hungarian ties remain strong for many voters who share values and history, even as Brussels debates move forward.