Most Poles oppose EU treaty reform: poll

9 months ago 32

More than one in two Polish people expect their government to oppose the EU treaty reforms proposed by the EU Parliament, according to a survey conducted by United Surveys.

The outgoing PiS government criticises the recently approved report in parliament, including proposals that the party believes would threaten Poland’s sovereignty like scrapping unanimous voting on key EU portfolios.

EU treaty reform is indeed opposed by about 52% of Poles, according to a survey by United Surveys for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and RMF FM.

In contrast, 32% of the poll’s respondents believe the Polish government should accept the treaty changes, and 15% have no clear opinion.

The most sceptical about treaty reform are the supporters of PiS, among whom 64% want Poland to reject the European Parliament’s report.

As for the voters of the three-bloc coalition led by former prime minister Donald Tusk, who may come to power as soon as next week, they have more diverse opinions, with 39% supporting treaty change, while 25% oppose them.

The new minority PiS government led by Mateusz Morawiecki, which came to power on Monday, is unlikely to survive a vote of no-confidence in parliament.

In the next step, the parliament will probably elect Donald Tusk for prime minister and the alliance of his Civic Coalition (KO, EPP/S&D), centrist Third Road (Renew/EPP) and the Left (S&D/Left).

Still, it is not yet known whether Tusk will then be the one representing Poland at the European Council. “The goal is to form a government as fast as possible so that the logical next step would be (Tusk’s) presence at the (European Council) summit, but we don’t speak about it now,” Dziennik Gazeta Prawna cites sources within the KO.

Even if Tusk succeeds in assuming power before the summit, the question of presence at the summit may become a big issue, DGP expects, as President Andrzej Duda may be willing to participate in the discussion about treaty changes.

“The Presidential Palace is closely monitoring whether and when the topic of treaty changes will appear on the agenda of the European Council in order to possibly engage in the process and complicate the life of future PM Donald Tusk,” DGP writes.

The report on EU treaty changes, approved by the EU Parliament, is one of the issues on which PiS and Tusk share a negative view, although they provided different arguments.

While PiS head Jarosław Kaczyński speaks of a potential “annihilation of Poland”, which he believes the bloc’s deeper integration would result in, Tusk warns of naïve “Euroenthusiasm” that he says had led to Brexit.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)