Tusk's harsh criticism of Warsaw
EU Council President Donald Tusk has raised the ire of Poland's PiS government with a tweet: writing in his personal account on Sunday he speculated on whether a Kremlin plan was behind the Polish government's Eurosceptic policies. Several media take the former Polish prime minister and member of the opposition party PO to task for his comments.
An absurd tweet
Gazeta Polska Codziennie describes the accusation that the PiS is acting in Putin's interests as absurd:
“Three days ago the Pentagon informed the US Congress of plans to sell the Patriot missile defence system to Poland. It said the goal was to improve the security of Poland - 'a Nato ally that has been, and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress within Europe'. And two days later Donald Tusk writes on Twitter: 'Alarm! A vehement dispute with Ukraine, isolation in the European Union ... PiS strategy or Kremlin's plan? Too alike to rest easy.' So the introduction of the Patriot system in Poland and the stationing of US soldiers here are a dream come true for Moscow?”
Russia always a convenient scapegoat
European politicians accuse Russia for everything that goes wrong in the EU, the pro-Russian daily Duma fumes:
“In recent times the Russians and Vladimir Putin himself have been blamed for all the ills in the seemingly so well-ordered Western world. The Russians got Donald Trump elected, the Russians are behind the Brexit, the Russians got the Catalonians to go to the polls and fuelled hostility towards refugees in Europe. ... These accusations are absurd, but they're effective in a world in which people swallow information without processing it first. The people are served a ready-made enemy so that later it can be attacked at will.”
This tweet changes everything
Donald Tusk is making a comeback in Polish politics with his tweet, Rzcezpospolita comments:
“With his tweet Tusk can be seen as symbolically taking over the leadership of the opposition. What's for sure is that with him at the helm the opposition will constitute a dangerous opponent for Kaczyński. Nevertheless Tusk must be aware that he has crossed the Rubicon. As President of the European Council he's one of the most prominent politicians in the EU. From now on all of his statements about Poland can be seen as tactics on the part of a potential opposition leader. At the same time, it's now easier for the PiS politicians to paint the EU as pandering to the interests of their opponents. This tweet really changes much in Polish politics.”
Tusk right to sound the alarm
Tusk's comment on Twitter makes clear how difficult the situation in Poland has become, Polityka concludes:
“When even Donald Tusk starts sounding the alarm you know either he was drunk when he tweeted or we really are in a big mess. ... The situation is indeed dire. There is no party that can challenge the PiS, the party that is ruining Poland. With its neoliberal agenda the Nowoczesna party [founded in 2015] is not the answer to Poland's need for a stronger, ambitious social welfare state after the years of wild capitalism. The PO under Schetnya is almost dead, doesn't understand what is going on and apparently doesn't even read the political commentaries. It doesn't even have enough energy to charge a car battery.”