REVIEW - Macron Allows Poland Back Into European Project Despite Growing Criticism of Warsaw in EU
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2020) French President Emmanuel Macron during his recent path-breaking speech in Poland unexpectedly allowed Poland back into the European project despite harsh EU criticism of Warsaw for the lack of democracy in the country.
From February 3-4, Macron paid an official visit � the first one in the past six year for a French president � to Poland, during which met with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The visit, according to Macron, was meant to mark "a real turning point" in bilateral ties.
Over the past years, Poland has been repeatedly accused by Brussels of lack of commitments to fundamental values of freedom of judiciary and press. In February 2018, European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans had launched the "atomic bomb" against Poland by recommending the European Union to trigger Article 7(1) of the Treaty on European Union over a risk of Poland's breach of the rule of law that could result in the country losing its EU voting rights.
EUROPEAN PROPAGANDA AGAINST POLAND AT WORK
The Eurocrats' attacks on Poland went very far and the relations between Warsaw and the European Commission became very tense. The European Commission and Timmermans, who at that time was responsible for upholding the rule of law in the bloc and was in charge of the "Polish dossier," harshly criticized the Polish government for failing to respect the principle of separation of powers by appointing own judges to the highest jurisdiction in the country, the Constitutional Court, composed of 15 judges, including the president.
These judges are supposed to be "apolitical" but are designated by the country's president. In fact, judges are appointed by the party holding a majority in the parliament, and it is no secret that Poland's Civic Platform party, founded by ex-European Council President and former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, had designated five judges instead of three just days before the transition of power to Jaroslaw Kaczynski's Law and Justice party, accused of populism by Brussels.
When the Law and Justice party changed the judges' appointment scheme by designating five judges instead of two, there was suddenly an outcry in the European Parliament with Tusk having accused the Polish government of "killing democracy."
IS PRESS REALLY MUZZLED IN POLAND?
Brussels' criticism also extends to the Polish ruling party for "remodeling" of the public media management, mainly the Polish National Television.
As in many Western European countries, Polish media were populated with leftist journalists who did not show much respect for the ethics regarding political issues in their work. One of the top political journalists in Poland, Tomasz Lis was, for example, filmed while chanting anti-government slogans during an opposition protest but was never sanctioned for that.
The Polish government made some management changes in public media, at the same time not trying to influence private audiovisual groups and main press titles, which remain varied in their views on political parties in Poland. However, the European Commission, led by Timmermans, launched a vigorous campaign against "the limitations of press freedom in Poland," referring to no less than the beginning of Nazism in the 30s.
Jerome Riviere, a member of the European Parliament for France's National Rally (RN), believes that Poland's alleged violations of fundamental European norms are nothing but "sly attacks" by the European Commission.
"The insinuations of the Eurocrats that Poland would not be a democracy are totally wrong and not founded on any reality. These are political sly attacks by the European Commission. We, at the RN, support the resistance of the Poles to Brussels' diktat. They remain a strong nation-state, masters of own future, including regarding the 'fluffy' European Green Deal. We are in perfect resonance with Poland on that," Riviere told Sputnik.
For the EU top management in Brussels, Poland has been a black sheep of European politics, that could barely be accepted in "their" Europe. Notably, the representative of Macron's La Republique En Marche! party in the European Parliament, Nathalie Loiseau, has been very vocal about the "lack of democracy in Poland."
However, last week, Macron suddenly went to Poland, where he delivered the path-breaking speech at Jagiellonian University in Krakow. The president covered the Second World War history, military issues in NATO, pretending to forget about the supposed "lack of democracy" in the country.
"No state should give lessons to anyone. However, we are concerned about the reform of the justice system in Poland. It is our duty to defend the principles enshrined in the European Treaties," Macron said.
It seems like Macron deliberately forgot about the squabble artificially created by Brussels, because, according to him, Europe is currently at a turning point and needs "new dynamics" in the wake of the UK departure from the EU.
"Brexit requires a new dynamics among the remaining members of the bloc," Macron stated.
TOWARD RETHINKING EUROPE'S BORDERS
During his address, the French president chose to focus on border protection and relations with France's neighbors in the European Union. First, he made reference to recent Polish-Russian squabbles over the Second World War history, saying that Warsaw fell victim to the conflict and was not the one causing the war.
"Poland was not responsible for causing World War II. Poland was a victim of this conflict. I would like to emphasize that France and the French are completely in solidarity with Poland and the Poles," Macron underlined.
Speaking about defense issues, he noted the lack of the "real neighborhood policy" in Europe and condemned the remaining core-periphery pattern within the bloc.
"We need to rethink the borders of Europe, the attitude towards our neighbors.
We do not have a real neighborhood policy. This shows an inadequate approach. We will be a real, strong Europe if we face up to this challenge. Let us stop thinking that some countries are on the periphery of Europe. They are all at the heart of Europe," Macron said.
When it comes to defense, Macron's plans go further: he wants to sell the French-German Main Ground Combat System tank project and nuclear power plants to Poland. However, Poland has chosen to remain dependent on the United States regarding defense and military cooperation � the country has recently acquired US-made F-35 fighter jets, which has put Warsaw at odds with Paris. Macron, in turn, looks forward to greater defense cooperation within the European Union and greater reliance on Europe's own defense industries.
"Macron visited Poland days after the Poles acquired the American F-35 jets, not playing the European game for the defense. A few months ago, Macron spoke about NATO's 'brain death,' but did not even touch upon this issue while visiting Poland! Macron was not at the level where he was expected to defend European defense and acquisition of European hi-tech military equipment, when visiting the most important and zealous vassal of Washington in Europe. The tank is, by far, not at the same technological level as a plane. Moreover, I have great doubts about the dream of cooperation on projects, badly defined by military headquarters," Riviere said.
KEEPING DIALOGUE WITH RUSSIA OPEN
After his soothing speech before Polish students, Macron reiterated the importance of the dialogue with Moscow and stressed the benefits of the Minsk and Normandy formats discussions with the participation of Russia.
"I wanted to make sure that this trip is the opportunity to clarify misunderstandings that may have occurred regarding the French position on defense and security on the one hand and toward Russia on the other hand. France is neither pro-Russian nor anti-Russian. It is pro-European, and when I look at a map ... we see that Russia is in Europe," Macron said in Warsaw.
The reference to Charles de Gaulle and his idea of unified Europe that stretches "from the Atlantic to the Urals" has become very clear in Macron's words. Moreover, Macron insisted that France's rapprochement with Moscow was beneficial for the whole bloc.
"Look at the results: we re-engaged in a demanding dialogue and opened this path again... We were able to make progress in the Minsk process, hold a Normandy Format summit in Paris and make progress on the Ukrainian crisis like we have not been able to do for many years," he said.
Professor Pierre Vercauteren, a political scientist at UCLouvain university in Belgium, told Sputnik that Macron's calls for unified Europe and strengthening relations with Moscow showed his commitment to the principles of de Gaulle's diplomacy.
"By trying to regain the confidence of the Poles while at the same time continuing a fruitful dialogue with Russia, Macron is in a direct line the heir of de Gaulle and of the whole French diplomacy since Napoleon III that favored the Paris-Moscow axis. There are divergences with Moscow of course, but the idea of the dialogue with firmness is a diplomatic doctrine that France has always defended, even during the cold war. So, it is somehow understandable that president Macron puts the quarrel between Poland and the EU on the back burner. He shows that he is in favor of 'realpolitik,'" Vercauteren stated.
TIMMERMANS IS BACK WITH VENGEANCE
Meanwhile, Timmermans remains the European Commission vice-president under Ursula von der Leyen, although he is not in charge of the "Poland bashing" this time, but is responsible for imposing the mind-boggling European Green Deal.
Timmermans' main goals are taking the lead in the Commission's work on the Green Deal and its first European Climate Law to enshrine the 2050 climate-neutrality target into the EU law. On the other hand, he must step up the commitment to the 2030 emission reduction target, increasing it to at least 50 percent by 2030. It is true that Timmermans is one of few European politicians who can be strong enough to impose such policies.
Against this background, Poland is the only member state of the European Union, which dared say no to the costly Green Deal in the European Council that promises more difficulties for the coming months. This is the reason why Macron touched upon the climate and energy policy during his visit to Warsaw and Krakow. He insisted that Brussels must help Poland to financially wean itself off coal, its current main energy source.
Professor Damien Ernst, an energy specialist teaching electro-technical science at the University of Liege, told Sputnik that traditional methods of reducing CO2 emissions, like introducing electric cars or promoting rail transport, would not work in Poland due to its heavy dependence on coal.
"Poland is still very deeply engaged in coal. Most of its electricity is produced through coal-fueled power plants. Germany and Denmark are also relying heavily on coal, mainly to compensate for the intermittences of wind energy, but less so than Poland. For example, promoting rail transport or electric cars has strictly no meaning in Poland, since the electricity is not 'clean' and the power plants emit large quantities of CO2. It is actually the same as in China: please no electric cars that would make things worse in the efforts of reducing CO2 emissions," Ernst stated.
Clearly, not all is said and done on the Green Deal and there will be more squabbles between Timmermans and Warsaw.
The EU will face major decisions this year, such as agreeing on the Green Deal's financing, the Multiannual Financial Framework and dealing with Brexit. Poland's refusal to sign the Green Deal, which is fully supported by Macron, in December 2019 was a sign on the wall that the European Union could witness further erosion.