Polish election a blow for the EU

WARSAW, Poland — With the election of a right-wing and Euroskeptic party, Poland is expected to become a more inward-looking country, and one less willing to work with European partners to forge common policies on pressing issues such as climate change and migrants.

“Poland will be a different Poland in Europe starting from today,” Agnieszka Lada, an expert on foreign affairs, said Monday.

The Law and Justice party, which is strongly anti-migrant and determined to preserve Poland’s coal industry, swept to power in a parliamentary election Sunday, possibly with enough votes to hold a majority.

According to final results announced late Monday, Law and Justice won 37.6 per cent of the vote. Poland’s state electoral commission did not say if that would translate into a majority in parliament once the seats are apportioned, but it appeared likely that the party could have a slim majority in the 460-seat lower house, or Sejm. It also won a majority of seats, 58 out of 100, in the less powerful Senate.

The party has also vowed not to adopt the euro currency until Polish wages have caught up with those in Germany, a prospect that is decades away at best. That marks a setback for Europe’s ambitions for ever greater monetary union given the importance of Poland’s economy, the largest in Central Europe, the sixthlargest in the bloc and one that is developing fast.

The populist party’s strong showing came after a campaign in which it took a hard line on migrants, essentially saying it doesn’t want any, and criticizing the outgoing centrist leadership for agreeing to a take 7,000 refugees under a European Union plan.

Days before the election, party chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski even warned that migrants could carry “protozoa and parasites” and other diseases that could be dangerous to Europeans. Several of his political opponents accused him of using language reminiscent of that used by Nazi Germany.

The party’s candidate for prime minister, Beata Szydlo, said the party is “very pro-European” but only wants to protect Poland’s interests.

At some point, Law and Justice will have to make a crucial decision on whether it will back former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, of the rival Civic Platform, for a second term as EU president, after his current terms expires in May 2017.

The party has had bad blood for years with Tusk, and some observers find it almost inconceivable that Law and Justice could give its support to him.