The EU has launched a legal probe into a Polish law that could block allegedly pro-Russian politicians from public office, in a swift rebuke of a move that critics say could be used by the country’s ruling party to target political opponents ahead of this autumn’s election.
Public outrage at the proposed anti-Russia commission helped fuel what the opposition called the largest anti-government protest in Poland since the fall of communism last Sunday, and has galvanised the country’s pro-EU opposition as it seeks to topple the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS).
Dubbed “Lex Tusk” given that its highest-profile potential target is opposition leader Donald Tusk, the law “unduly interferes with the democratic process,” the European Commission said on Thursday, and “violates the principles of legality and of non-retroactivity”.
“We were under a sense of urgency because we believe this law is really a serious blow to democratic processes and to the fairness of the elections,” said Věra Jourová, European commission vice-president for values and transparency.
PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński has accused Tusk of being too friendly to Moscow and has claimed the commission will help protect Poland from Russian meddling during the election campaign. Warsaw has played an oversized role in providing support to Ukraine against Moscow’s invasion of the country.
The EU’s legal challenge, known as an infringement procedure, gives Warsaw 21 days to respond. If that response is deemed insufficient, Brussels can escalate the issue, leading to a potential court case and possible financial penalties.
Earlier this week the Polish authorities dismissed the threat of legal action from Brussels as something that would not derail their anti-Russia commission project. “This is a completely sovereign issue of the republic of Poland and this issue should not have any international consequences,” said the chief of staff of the Polish president, Paweł Szrot.
Brussels’ challenge to the new law follows various legal battles between Poland and the EU over PiS policies, including a reform of the country’s legal system that Brussels says violates EU law, which are still holding up payment of tens of billions of euros in bloc funds to Warsaw.
President Andrzej Duda, who also represents PiS, made a hasty U-turn last week after signing the law by proposing a raft of amendments. It is still unclear how those changes will affect the commission’s structure and its functioning. Polish opposition parties have said they will boycott the commission by refusing to appoint members to what they describe as an unconstitutional body.
Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, one of the leading figures in Tusk’s Civic Platform party, described the anti-Russia commission as a “Bolshevik tribunal” that had no place in a democracy. “No wonder that the EU takes action,” he told the Financial Times on Thursday.
The Civic Platform coalition believes that the public outrage will allow it to overtake PiS in voter preferences. Given the fragmented Polish party landscape, Tusk would probably still need to form a coalition to govern after the election, slated for October.
“The avalanche never looks big at the beginning . . . but when so many people are mobilising, and even with the summer recess, it seems to me impossible that they will then suddenly evaporate just before the election,” said former prime minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, who is a close ally of Tusk.
The opposition estimated that half a million people marched in Warsaw on Sunday, with many participants also joining the anti-government rally from other cities. But the government has questioned that number and downplayed the significance of the demonstration.
“It makes me laugh a bit when old foxes, who have been in politics for many years, organise an anti-government march and present it as a spontaneous civil protest,” said prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki about Sunday’s rally.
Additional reporting by Ian Johnston in Brussels and Barbara Erling in Warsaw
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