The pre-campaign for the legislative elections in Poland, scheduled for this autumn, was already showing signs of hardness, with the confrontation of two irreconcilable blocs. But the cross-verbal attacks now seem almost anecdotal when compared to the latest move by the ultraconservative camp in power. President Andrzej Duda gave the green light on Monday to a controversial law passed by parliament on Friday. The law calls for the creation of a commission to examine Russian influence in the period 2007-2022. The opposition and independent media call it the Tusk Law, because they believe that this initiative against politicians, journalists or other Polish citizens who would have favored Moscow's interests, is tailor-made to persecute the opposition, and in particular its leader, former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in power between 2007 and 2014. The initiative, they denounce, is a blow to democracy in the country.
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Tusk – leader of the conservative liberal Civic Platform (PO) party, although he now holds no elected office – followed the vote on the law from the guest gallery of Parliament last Friday, amid boos and shouts of "To Berlin!", because the ultraconservatives also accuse him of excessive harmony with Germany. After the approval of the law, which went ahead with 234 votes in favor against 219 against, the former prime minister called "cowards" those who, according to him, had "broken good parliamentary rules and the fundamental rights of democracy, for fear of losing power."
The also former president of the European Council called on citizens to participate in a march called for next Sunday, on the anniversary of the first partially free elections in the country, in 1989. This Monday, after knowing Duda's decision, Tusk has invited the president to "the public consultation on June 4", in reference to the demonstration. "He will hear us and see us well from the windows of his palace. Will he come?" he wrote on Twitter.
Panie Prezydencie, zapraszam na konsultacje społeczne 4 czerwca. Będzie nas dobrze słychać i widać z okien Pańskiego pałacu. Przyjdziecie?
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) May 29, 2023
The commission created by the new law, which would answer directly to the Government, has the ability to investigate and impose a punishment of 10 years of disqualification from holding positions that allow access to public funds and classified information. It also has the power to withdraw the person's weapons license and impose fines, and to reverse administrative and business decisions.
The Constitution's fit of that ability to investigate, accuse and judge and impose punishment is problematic, critics say. Also the lack of a clear definition of what is considered Russian influence. The parliamentary committee on Administration and Internal Affairs opposed the rule last week and voted in favor of the veto it had received in the Senate, where the opposition has the majority. The Ombudsman, Marcin Wiacek, in statements collected by the Polish press, has stressed that this type of decision does not fall within the competences of the public administration. "It does not administer justice, that is only done by the courts," he said. Constitutional experts criticize that the commission's activity undermines the right to a fair trial.
After some recent decisions in which the Polish head of state has distanced himself from the official line of the ultraconservative Government of Law and Justice (PiS), some sectors maintained a particle of doubt about the next step. They were hoping, if not on a veto by the president, that he would at least send the law to the Constitutional Court for consideration. Duda has decided, however, to give it the green light now – the rule will enter into force a week after its publication – and then send it to the Constitutional Court. With the flags of Poland, the EU and NATO behind him, he has defended before the cameras the creation of a similar body in the EU, a proposal that he has entrusted to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The president has assured that the rule seeks to "improve transparency" and that it does not give powers to the commission to eliminate anyone from public life.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022, relations with Russia have only become tense and any indication of having favored the relationship with the invader is under attack. On Monday, after Duda's decision was announced, Borys Budka, vice president of PO, accused Jaroslaw Kaczynski, president of PiS, on Twitter of implementing pro-Kremlin policies: "He blew up the European Union from within, admired Trump, built alliances with pro-Putin politicians and made the energy sector dependent on Russian coal." Listed.
Alleged closeness to Moscow
In response, the government spokesman published a detailed list of events that occurred during Tusk's government which, according to him, show that he constantly pursued a pro-Russian policy. "Who visited Russia first and then Ukraine in 2008? Who in 2008 did the Russian portal call Gazeta.ru 'our man in Warsaw'? Who was walking with Putin on the Sopot pier in 2009?" wrote Piotr Müller, who ended his message with the other issue that the pro-government camp usually throws at Tusk: the accusation of having been too friendly with Angela Merkel's Germany. "Who said in 2015 about Nord Stream 2 that it was a 'private company deal'?" the spokesperson concluded.
The journalist and former presenter Szymon Holownia, leader of the centrist formation Poland 2050 – which in coalition with an agrarian party has become a third force, according to some polls – has accused Duda of "shooting the civil war to the limit" in Polish society. "When peace, truth, verified information is most needed, it joyfully opened PiS's factory of pre-election lies," Holownia wrote in a message on Twitter. He also accused Duda of "poisoning Polish democracy." Robert Biedron, MEP from Lewica (The Left), described the passage of the law as "a shameful and irresponsible act" and added that "the consequences for Polish democracy and the legal system will be truly devastating."
Tusk's return in 2021 to Polish politics, after having been at the head of the European People's Party, boosted his party's chances in the polls by more than 10 points and made him the main target of attacks by the ultraconservative government and its media machine. In April, the Public Prosecutor's Office, headed by Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, opened an investigation against the opposition leader for alleged abuse of power while he was prime minister. In the autumn legislative elections, which are expected to be held in October, the polls are very close and mobilization will be key.
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