“Time is of the essence,” stressed yesterday the leader of the Polish opposition, Donald Tusk, received with honors in Brussels by the representatives of the European institutions just ten days after the legislative elections that ended eight years of ultra-conservative governments, but before even that has been entrusted to form a government.
The purpose of his trip was to begin to “restore” Poland's position in the European Union and accelerate the unlocking of the 34 billion euros in aid that Brussels keeps frozen in retaliation for the lack of judicial independence in the country. “I have had to take this initiative because all methods, including some unorthodox, must be used to save the money to which Poles are entitled,” Tusk explained in his appearance alongside Ursula von der Leyen, president of the Community Executive. “I am really proud of my compatriots, they have shown that the anti-democratic and anti-European environment does not have to be a trend,” Tusk said.
His party, Civic Platform, a member of the European People's Party, was the second most voted on October 15 and plans to govern in a coalition with other moderate parties that account for 54% of the seats in the Sejm, the national parliament. The music that comes from Warsaw is honey to the ears of the community institutions, with which the Law and Justice Government (PiS), clearly anti-European, has warred without pause for eight years, often in tandem with Viktor Orbán's Hungary , a cooperation broken by the war in Ukraine, in which Budapest is closer to Moscow than to Brussels.
Von der Leyen, who welcomed Tusk as a member of the European People's Party, however contained her enthusiasm and only allowed herself to celebrate that the “record turnout” in the elections, the highest since the end of communism, “has shown that Poles They feel strongly linked to democracy” and that he would surely find “many points in common” in his talks with his party partner.
However, the unlocking of the Next Generation funds allocated to Warsaw – 22.5 billion in aid and 11.5 billion in loans – may be more complicated and slower than what the future Polish rulers intend, warn community sources in Brussels. The procedure opened by the EU is linked to the need to make changes that depoliticize the Polish judicial structure, but undoing the reforms approved by Mateusz Morawiecki's executive will take several months. The process could also be torpedoed by the Polish president, Andrzej Duda.
The urgency that Tusk alluded to has to do with the uniqueness of the Next Generation EU funds. As they are designed to act as part of a shock plan to counteract the economic effects of the pandemic, they have an expiration date: today, all money that is not spent before the end of 2026 will be permanently lost. Spain, the country most advanced in the execution of these funds, which are delivered as the milestones of the national recovery programs are met, began to receive and spend funds in 2021.
“We return to this [European] path with the conviction that it is the will of Polish voters,” who have made it clear that “they still care about democracy, the rule of law, freedom of expression and European unity,” he stressed. Tusk, opening the door to a constructive relationship with the EU. His trip to Brussels, where he also met with the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, could put pressure on the Polish president, who is currently reluctant to give him the initiative to form a government. .
In light of his latest statements, it is not ruled out that Duda will first give the initiative to PiS, which came in first position with 35% of the votes, but has no options to form a government, and Tusk will have to wait until December to be sworn in as prime minister, a position he already held between 2007 and 2014, before being elected president of the European Council.
