The Left fell prey to its own success, Polish experts say

5 months ago 32

The Left in Europe has fallen prey to its own success, particularly with the results of the EU elections in Poland, social studies professor Andrzej Rychard of the Polish Academy of Sciences told Euractiv Poland.

The Polish Left (S&D) is considered one of the main losers of this month’s European elections. Despite being a part of the ruling coalition, it only came fifth, winning only 6.3% and three seats in the next European Parliament.

The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) may have remained the second largest force on the European stage, but the left won only 36 seats, far fewer than the far right, and unlike the right, it lost one seat compared to the previous term.

The weakening of the left is a pan-EU trend that is particularly visible in Poland, social studies professor Andrzej Rychard of Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) told Euractiv Poland in an interview.

“The Left has paradoxically fallen prey to its own success,” he said.

As worldview-related issues like same-sex marriages have become part of the mainstream debate and the demands of the welfare state have been resolved, the left has lost its distinguishing features, the expert believes.

“You do not need to be the leftist party anymore to advocate for left-wing demands,” he noted.

“The Left has lost its way in every dimension it has engaged. It pays the price for the European Green Deal and the monothematic nature of its agenda. Its offer for the voters is very modest,” Spasimir Domaradzki, policy expert of the Warsaw University, told Euractiv Poland.

Confederation’s success

While the Polish left underperformed in the elections, the far-right Confederation, founded before the 2019 European elections but failed to gain any seats at the time, has achieved its historic success.

With 12.1% of the vote, it came third in Poland, behind the two favourites, Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO, EPP) and the conservative PiS (ECR). The party enjoyed particular support among farmers, as it devoted much of its election campaign to denouncing the European Green Deal and demanding tougher measures to curb the agri-food imports from Ukraine.

Among farmers, Confederation gained 15.3% of the votes and ranked second, behind PiS.

“These elections were easy for the Confederation. It had a simple, clear message and turned in the opposite direction from everyone else, so they could stand out,” Bartłomiej Biskup, a policy analyst at Warsaw University, told Euractiv Poland.

“They claimed that practically everything the EU proposed was wrong,” he added.

Asked about the reasons for the rise of the far right in Poland, Rychard pointed out that mainstream parties such as KO had “lost its connection with the citizens.”

“They became oligarchic and over-bureaucratic. The far-right populists diagnosed it right,” he added.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)