Speaking at an economic forum in Karpacz this week, Jarosław Kaczyński, president of Law and Justice (PiS) and the country’s de facto leader, went further than before to denounce the EU as a culturally alien project led by a neo-imperialist Germany. He said it was the “sacred duty” of Polish politicians to oppose it. He said Poland joined the EU out of necessity, but left the impression that the case for staying in the bloc hung in the balance. “We had to join the EU to exist and grow,” Kaczyński said. “There was no other way back then.” The essence of the EU plan had been revealed, he said. “In the EU there is a rule: who is stronger is better. And because Germany is stronger, the old German concept prevails – a concept that can be called neo-imperial. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, wants to build a superstate of global importance under German leadership. Kaczyński does not hold a government role but is seen as a driving force behind the conservative-nationalist ruling party, which has launched a crackdown on judicial independence that has put Poland at loggerheads with Brussels. Speaking to a packed room and surrounded by his closest intellectual advisers, Kaczyński repeatedly described the EU as a culturally alien project without specifying in what way. The ferocity of alienation from the EU venture – synonymous with Germany – was on display every day at the economic forum, described as the Davos of Central and Eastern Europe. Many of the meetings on the irresistible march of liberal values rejected globalization. Kaczyński said: “We realize that western Europe is culturally foreign to us,” adding that it was something Poland had confirmed upon accession by passing a resolution defending its sovereignty. But at the same time, the PiS leadership seemed optimistic that the tide may be shifting and that power in Europe is moving eastward, after validating the “Carpathian” analysis of Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine. “I think we are at a turning point in global geopolitics, so today, what counts is the common voice of those who were right in the face of what happened,” said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. But with PiS polling at around 35%, inflation at 16% and confidence ratings in Morawiecki at a new low, the party does not seem confident that its pro-Putin acumen will reap electoral benefits next year. Kaczyński also appears to be testing transgender criticism as another potential strategy to boost turnout among rural and elderly voters, the bedrock of his 2019 victory. In recent months, he has used several meetings with supporters to launch attacks on trans people. It wouldn’t be the first time the Polish government targeted the LGBT community: two years ago the PiS-aligned president, Andrzej Duda, ran a successful re-election campaign based on fighting against so-called LGBT ideology, although the focus was rarely on trans people. However, the focus of PiS’s strategy for now is a vicious attack on Germany and, in particular, the demand that Germany pay reparations for the destruction caused to Poland by the Nazis during the second world war. A three-volume study by a parliamentary body over four years puts the bill at €1.3 trillion, three times Germany’s annual state budget. Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, says the matter is closed and an agreement was reached on the issues in August 1953. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. But suggestions that demand from PiS will be tailored solely to domestic audiences have been proven wrong. Morawiecki has written an article in the UK’s Spectator magazine describing crimes “that can never be fully forgiven and can never be forgotten”. A proposal is being submitted to the European Parliament and Polish diplomats say an official note demanding compensation will soon be sent to Berlin. Morawiecki argues that any decision by the Polish government in 1953 to renounce claims could not be valid since no proposal was approved by the Polish parliament and, as part of the Soviet Union, Poland could not be described as a free state at the time. PiS hopes it has set a trap into which opposition parties, notably Donald Tusk’s Citizens’ Platform, will fall by opposing the move and thus appear insensitive to the traumatic history of Polish-German relations. Scholz, for his part, hopes the matter will be resolved. In the short term, the demand for reparations risks bleeding into other contemporary disputes, including increased German arms deliveries to Ukraine, rising energy prices and the EU’s refusal to hand over €35 billion in pandemic funds to Warsaw until the Poland fulfilled a number of “milestones” of the rule of law. The language has already turned extreme, with some MEPs saying Brussels posed as big a threat to Poland as Russia and with a Polish ambassador warning that the Brussels elite risk tearing the EU apart with its federalization plans and thus give victory to Putin.
