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September 14, 2023 - 7:00am
Poland’s general election on 15 October is seen by many as a battle for the nation’s soul — and right now, it’s anyone’s guess who will emerge victorious. Going head-to-head are the leader of the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) Jarosław Kaczyński and the leader of the opposition Donald Tusk, a former prime minister and ex-European Council president.
As campaigning grows increasingly bitter, Tusk’s past is leaving him open to attack as an alleged German stooge and enemy of Polish sovereignty, as PiS bets on playing up threats to national sovereignty in the run-up to the vote.
The latest in a long line of attacks by PiS is an ad which portrays Tusk as keen to sell out Poland to German interests. The ad draws on claims that his decision to raise the retirement age while previously prime minister was taken under orders from Berlin. It shows Kaczyński receiving a fictitious call from the German Embassy demanding that the retirement age be “the same as it was under Mr. Tusk” (PiS reversed Tusk’s raising of the retirement age), to which the party leader replies “Mr. Tusk is not here anymore and those habits are finished.”
The ad encapsulates PiS’s electoral strategy: combining its favourite pastime — Tusk-bashing — with its attempts to awaken deep-rooted anti-German sentiments. A year ago, the party launched a campaign to extract $1.3 trillion in reparations from Germany for losses inflicted during the Second World War, with Germany insisting that the matter of reparations is closed. PiS said Berlin was setting “a perfect example for Russia on how to behave as regards Ukraine”.
It may seem illogical for Warsaw to devote so much energy to attacking a key ally, yet attempting to convince the Polish public that they are in fact hemmed in by hostile superpowers for whom Tusk is a servant — not just Russia but also Germany and, by extension, the EU — is the key ingredient in PiS’s electoral campaign.
Despite Germany’s U-turn on relations with Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine, Kaczyński has continued to warn of a “German-Russian plan to rule over Europe”. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has meanwhile claimed that “Tusk, an envoy of the Brussels elites,” will “demolish Poland’s security”.
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SubscribeI think there is this but there also is the LGBTQ and climate change lobby that is hard at work in Poland and that also defines the battle lines.
The reason he is portrayed as a German / Brussels stooge is…
Because he is a German / Brussels stooge
Poland is fascinating. The Polish people have lived in the heart of Europe, surrounded by powerful and frequently unfriendly neighbours. They have been invaded and fought over repeatedly, and yet they have survived. This is in stark contrast to the United States, which was in no danger whatsoever of invasion for nearly two centuries, protected as it was by the Royal Navy.
Moreover, they have never sat around, waiting to be rescued. As I recall from my reading of Christopher Andrew’s ‘Mitrokhin Archive’, the Polish people freed themselves from Soviet rule, and their example inspired all of Central Europe to get its freedom.
So should we worry too much about anti-German sentiment? I suspect it more rhetorical than real. It resonates with the Polish people, who have learned the hard way to distrust its neighbours.
Protected by the Royal Navy? Come again? maybe slightly before WW2 but certainly not afterward and the USA is protecting the UK now..
Slightly before WW2? _Entirely_ before WW2. This is the only reason that the US could get away with minimal armed forces from independence to WW2 (the Civil War, WW1 and Theodore Roosevelt’s warship-building programme aside).
The point is that for nearly all its history, the greatest threat to Americans has been other Americans. For the Poles, internal disunity has been suppressed because of the fear of invasion. It’s why the Poles tolerate far more ruthlessness in their leaders than you or I would.
You omitted to mention that we the British, did sack Washington DC in the summer of 1814 and also raided the US coastline with impunity.
Off course we were really ‘protecting’ them for their own good.
Seems a very odd article trying to imply the PiS are lying in saying Tusk is a German/EU stooge. He so clearly is that it would be very odd if PiS did not point it out.
This is our democratic system at its best. Hitler wrote of Nazism that it was almost scientifically guaranteed to succeed, because it rested on ‘every major human weakness’. And he was duly elected. We see today that democracy can be as much a threat to peace as authoritarian systems, when democratic contenders are driven to out-compete their rivals at the extremes and, in a feedback loop with the media, drive the people into hysteria. Our governments are becoming circuses.
In the current febrile atmosphere, our democracies have descended in circuses.
Politicians will tell any lie they can dream up in an attempt to win an election, and gain power. Colour me shocked.
The real problem is not the politicians, though; it’s the voters who believe this bilge. Adlai Stevenson had it right; “In a democracy, people get the government they deserve.” Although Churchill might be right…