DEMOCRACY ACCORDING TO BERLIN
WOJCIECH KĘDER
In media, not only the Polish ones, there are a lot of emotions after the election of Donald Tusk for the post of the chairperson of the European Council, and various commentators, mostly dependably what option they represent, either speak about a failure of the Polish government, or about his defeat. Whereas the problem is that this failure, defeat, or victory, was to be gained by the Polish government in relation to the election of the chairperson of the European Council, which, in fact, did not take place. After all, election means an alternative. So, what other candidates appeared for this administrative post, beside the former Polish prime minister? Donald Tusk, being the only candidate, was not elected but nominated for this post by Germany, and other European countries, except for Poland, acknowledged this decision. So, the issue, being out of reach for the Polish government, was nomination of a man by the Germans, considered by them as ‘suitable’ for a suitable post. And here the Polish government did not fail or was not defeated. Whereas, as the only one, presenting a competitive candidature, it was trying to change the electoral farce into a democratic election. And the fact that this attempt was distorted at the very beginning, does not prove its failure, but the failure of European institutions.
Electoral abracadabra
The practice of the EU, which is governed by Germany, and being prompted by France, is not nominating its own citizens for exposed posts, which arouses bad associations among them immediately. Therefore, the capital city of the Union is not Berlin or Paris but provincial Brussels, and it is not Germany or France at the helm of the European Commission of other decision-making bodies of EU, but politicians, from smaller or small countries in most cases, like Portugal, Belgium or Luxembourg, which, regardless of policy they are pursuing and which is directed in Berlin, often being sure of their significance, they are as puffed as the Australian toad.
Whereas it is paradox, that in this electoral performance, provided to us by the European Union, any kind of hints of media and politicians was focused on Donald Tusk, about whom today’s Die Welt, in awe of division in Europe, wrote: ‘….was it really worth choosing such an average chief of the European Council?’, there is, indeed, something different which is hardly discussed. And, mainly, revealing completely undemocratic mechanisms and procedures of EU hidden behind the facade of democratic appearances. And what is particular, that this anti-democratic lineament of EU would not have come up onto the surface very clearly if it had not been for stubbornness of Germany and the chancellor Merkel enforcing the candidature of Donald Tusk, not supported by his country. So, the price which Germany would pay for the election of this ‘average chief of EU’ is a painful loss of image, the same as the election of the year 2008 when in Ireland there was a referendum concerning acceptance of the Lisbon treaty.
The Irish had to face the democratic election, having to vote ‘for’ or ‘against’ the Lisbon treaty. And when they voted against it, they got another ‘democratic chance’ to vote ‘for’. The similar situation is today when the election of the EU chairperson took place. Each country had a democratic right to vote for its favourite candidate, provided that, it would be a vote for the only candidate suggested by Germany – and it did not matter who had suggested his candidature personally. Therefore Berlin, aware of its losses in image, made a lot of effort to gain support for its actions, from other European countries, which, in the opinion of Berlin, is to prove the consensus gained via a democratic way, from which only the Polish government broke away.
Will ‘there be peace in Warsaw’?
So, there appears a question about the causes of such an energetic engagement of Germany in the election, as they write not only the ‘average’ themselves, but also, as it was once defined by ‘Der Spiegel’, a trustworthy politician. Berlin, however, had to make a lot of diplomatic effort in order to isolate Poland in this issue. In addition, it also had to agree to inevitable losses of image revealing not only the backstage of the German dictate in the European Union, but also incompatibility of European institutions to democratic rules. Dlaczego zatem poparł kandydaturę byłego polskiego premiera mimo tak wysokich kosztów?
It seems that in order to answer this question, it is not necessary to make guesses but only analyze the previous state of the situation. As long as one can think that Donald Tusk holding the post of the chairperson of the European Council could be replaced without any difficulties, this candidature is irreplaceable only for one reason – that is, holding the post, the chairperson of the European Council has been active (not always, though) not only in European matters, but also in the Polish ones, in which he has played one of main roles for years. Also, holding the new post in Brussels, he often commented on the course of events, especially after the election won by the Law and Justice Party and not only abroad, but also in Poland, like in Wrocław.
The course of events, as we have been observing for a year, as it was presented so by Schultz, as a result of the ‘coup’ in Warsaw, the Law and Justice party took over the authority, Poland is arousing more and more opposition, and both in Berlin and in Brussels. Also one can see more and more detest to the scenario, in which ‘abroad and streets’ (exactly in this order) will bring back ‘law and democracy’ in our country oppressed by activists of the Law and Justice party and ‘there will be peace in Warsaw’. There is a question how the chairperson of the European Council will behave in this situation? Hence there is the basic question, whether the broad democratic action of pushing aside Poland onto the margin (the attitude of our partners from the Visegrad Group is a separate problem) and isolating it on the international arena is only connected with ‘election’ of the chairperson of the European Council, or may be another stage of an offensive directed against Poland. In the name of perfect ‘ideals’ of the European Union and its fundamental ‘values’.
AA
„Niedziela” 13/2017