Poland’s Tusk under pressure to dismiss EPP alliance with ECR

3 months ago 14

Poland’s co-governing Left Party (S&D) would find it hard to support a second term for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen if she decides to cooperate with conservatives in the hard-right ECR group, Left MEP Robert Biedroń told Euractiv Poland, adding that the Prime Minister Donald Tusk should also rule out such cooperation.

During the recent Eurovision debate on 23 May, Socialists and Liberals put von der Leyen on blast for seeking cooperation with what they called far-right, referring to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia (ECR) and other European Conservative and Reformist parties, including Poland’s opposition conservative PiS party.

“It is hard for us to support von der Leyen if she wants to cooperate with the ECR and PiS,” said Biedroń, adding that “PiS has been weakening the EU for years and what is now considered is forging an alliance with it”.

Cooperation with PiS and ECR should also be ruled out by Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO), the Left’s partner in the ruling coalition and a member of von der Leyen’s European People’s Party (EPP), Biedroń added.

“I expect Donald Tusk not to allow a coalition with PiS at the EU or national level,” he said.

Speaking of S&D, Biedroń said it was the only group in the European Parliament that does not cooperate with the far-right, whether at the national government or EU level.

The group believes that “an alliance with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s Trojan horses, such as (Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo) Salvini, (Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor) Orbán or often (former PiS prime minister) Morawiecki” is out of the question, Biedroń argued, opting instead for cooperation with “progressive parties that want to strengthen the EU”.

As for supporting von der Leyen, the S&D has its own candidate for Commission president, Nicholas Schmit, and will campaign for him, he added.

For him, Schmit, currently the commissioner for employment and social rights, is “a good candidate for the hard times that need firm decisions”, such as in wages and workers’ rights.

The ECR is open to cooperation with other groups and to forming a centre-right coalition, including with the EPP, PiS MEP Zdzisław Krasnodębski, who is not standing for another term, told Euractiv Poland earlier this year.

In his view, the EPP currently includes parties more in line with the ECR’s political profile than with the views of EPP President Manfred Weber.

Krasnodębski did not rule out cooperation with the Socialists on specific issues, “especially those from our (Poland’s) region, but also from Western countries”.

During the Eurovision debate in May, the Commission chief did not rule out nor confirm cooperation with the ECR.

While she did not mention PiS, she ruled out a coalition with the Confederation, another Polish right-wing party, which she called “Putin’s friends”, along with Germany’s AfD and France’s Rassemblement National.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)