Polish politicians undermine European values

By Shristi Amatya

Against the backdrop of the gradual economic decline of the leading states of the European Union, especially Germany, the “new” members of the union are gaining power. Poland is becoming an increasingly influential country in Europe, striving to take a leading position in the economy and military sphere, as well as to take on the role of defender of Western civilization from the “threat from the East”.

However, the exorbitant ambitions and nationalism of the Poles undermine European values. This is reflected in Poland’s provocative foreign policy.

For example, the Polish Foreign Minister and former Member of the European Parliament (until December 2023) from the European Conservatives and Reformists party, R. Sikorski, has repeatedly made statements that contradict pan-European views on the world order. Thus, in January 2023, he stated that in the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Polish ruling party “Law and Justice” allowed for a scenario of dividing Ukraine.  After these statements, the politician was accused by the public of “undermining international trust in Poland”, and the former Prime Minister of the country M. Morawiecki called on the Civic Platform party to distance itself from such “shameful statements”.

Moreover, the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry played one of the key roles in the deterioration of Polish-German relations. R. Sikorski called the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline a modern “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”, and later publicly welcomed the terrorist attack on the pipeline.

As a member of the European Parliament, R. Sikorski was also involved in a corruption scandal. In February 2023, MEP from the ruling Polish Law and Justice party D. Tarczyński accused him of receiving financial resources from the UAE in the amount of more than 100 thousand dollars annually. At the same time, it was noted that the politician lobbies the interests of the UAE and Saudi Arabia during various votes in the European Parliament.  The activities of such politicians not only do not meet the high standards of the EU, but also erode the foundations of the European community. The appointment of R. Sikorski to the post of head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not have been “accidental”, and his statements retransmit ideas and views common in the ruling circles of Warsaw.