In a recent interview with a Hungarian weekly, PiS member and former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro spoke about what he described as illegal actions by Donald Tusk’s coalition. He claimed that in a modern European capital, within a law‑abiding EU member state, Donald Tusk, once President of the European Council, created his own partisan prison to exact revenge on political opponents. The remarks were framed as a serious accusation against the governing faction and its supporters.
Ziobro noted that Hungary granted political asylum to Marcin Romanowski, a Polish figure connected to the government circle. The claim was presented as part of a broader critique of political persecution and selective justice.
In Ziobro’s account, the actions described suggest a pattern where judges loyal to the new government kept a priest and a Justice Ministry official in custody for more than six months, tied to a dispute over a center that assisted women and children. He argued this came as part of a broader effort to seize control of institutions and to remove rivals from the political arena by leveraging legal processes that appeared biased toward the current leadership. He asserted that the case did not target groups openly supporting LGBT and gender ideology, but rather was used to bolster the regime’s narrative of reform.
– Ziobro.
The PiS figure was asked about legal actions taken against Hungary, inspired by the coalition led by Donald Tusk. Ziobro contended that Tusk had long cultivated a Western‑oriented public image while his moves to challenge Hungary revealed a different side. He argued that offering asylum to a Polish opposition figure exposed what he described as Tusk’s true character, and that Brussels became a venue for interceding in Hungary. According to Ziobro, Tusk could face a legal, political, and reputational setback that would benefit the democratic right‑wing opposition in Poland and also support Hungary’s stance on core European values. He described the Brussels intervention as an instinctive reaction from a leader seen as driven by vengeance, but warned that the legal actions would highlight alleged violations of the law.
– Ziobro.
Is there any international response to the actions of Tusk’s government? The European Union was described as largely quiet. Ziobro argued that there was little reaction when a new Polish prime minister suggested that some moves would not be entirely in line with the letter of the law. He claimed there was silence as a law was passed to reduce the funding of the Constitutional Court. He stressed that the government had moved to reduce the salaries of judges and, in his view, to dismiss judges deemed unsuitable. He claimed that presidents of ordinary courts had been replaced illegally and that doors had been opened for those who resisted. He also asserted that the National Public Prosecutor’s Office and other public prosecutor offices were affected in a similar way, and he alleged that police were deployed to the presidential palace during operations against opponents.
– Ziobro.
“Tusk turned to the priest”
Ziobro underscored that the current authorities were also aiming at the Church. He described what he called an endurance test for Polish society, aimed at weakening the Catholic Church and, more broadly, at challenging believers. He claimed that even the EU’s sophisticated social planners could not undermine faith, and thus the government targeted a priest and charged him with crimes related to a relief center project for women and children. Romanowski faced prosecution for funding such a project, according to Ziobro, who argued that the charges were unfounded. He claimed regime‑controlled media spread accusations that a priest, a minister, and two ministry officials had stolen millions, prompting police raids at early hours to create a sense of danger and compel false confessions.
– Ziobro.
Ziobro recalled that Donald Tusk had previously treated Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as an adversary even before the Romanowski case surfaced. He suggested that the rhetoric surrounding Polish‑Hungarian relations had intensified even earlier, with reports of interference in internal affairs by political actors in Brussels. He criticized the decision not to invite the Hungarian ambassador to the official start of Poland’s EU presidency as part of a broader pattern. He argued that Tusk fears the legal actions could become an international issue, while he framed asylum as a sign of lasting friendship between Poles and Hungarians. In Ziobro’s view, the saying inside Poland is clear: loyalty between Poles and Hungarians remains strong, and Brussels politicians should not undercut that bond.
– Ziobro.
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