CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS ‘ON THE ROAD RIGHT INTO THE ABYSS’, WARNS SENIOR MEP SKA KELLER

When the escalating Rule of Law dispute between Poland and the EU reached the second October plenary session it, once again, was made as clear that the two sides have dug in and we are witnessing the political equivalent of trench warfare.

“You had the opportunity to rehabilitate yourself”, prominent Polish opposition politician Robert Biedroń (S&D) told his country’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki in his one-minute response to the latter’s 33-minute monologue, “but you missed it.”

In what, for the first twenty minutes sounded like an alternative State of the Union speech, Morawiecki elaborated at length about the threat of energy prices, the NordStream 2 gas pipeline and more, painting a picture of a Europe in clear and existential danger.

If he had hoped to change any hearts and minds with his speech, Morawiecki found himself mistaken.

The defenders of the Polish government’s actions and position remained limited to members of his own party and parts of their group, the Hungarian ruling party, and the far right, who gave Morawiecki a standing ovation.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, reiterated her “deep concern” calling the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling of 8 October “a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order.”

She announced that the Commission would use one of three options to react: infringement procedures, “the conditionality mechanism and other financial tools”, or “coming back” to the Article 7 procedure.

She did not, however, offer details or a timetable, explaining that the Commission was still analysing the Polish ruling.

To a large number of speakers this was not good enough, as dialogue - most recently suggested as a continued way forward by the outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel – had, in their eyes, run its course.

Renew Group Vice-Chair Malik Azmani (NL) demanded of the Commission “to act immediately on the following: reject the recovery plan for Poland, trigger the conditionality mechanism: no more ifs, or buts.”

By way of metaphors befitting the situation, former Polish Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski (EPP) offered: “The Polish government is driving on the wrong side of the road and is blaming everyone else.” Greens/EFA Co-president Ska Keller (DE) went with: “I haven’t heard any ideas from you [PM Morawiecki] on how to get out of this crisis. Which is the way forward? It seems to be the road right into the abyss.”