Come to your sense! So said European Council President Donald Tusk when he urged his fellow Poles on November 5 to stick with the EU – or end up tumbling out of the bloc like Britain.
Tusk, a former Polish prime minister (2007-2014) is one of the most vociferous critics of Poland’s ruling eurosceptic Law and Justice party (PiS) in Warsaw.
“It does not matter to me whether (PiS leader) Jaroslaw Kaczynski plans to leave the EU or just initiates some processes that lead to that outcome,” Tusk told reporters during a visit to Warsaw.
“The issue is that Cameron also had no plan to take the UK out of the EU. And the will (among member states) to keep Poland inside the EU is smaller than the will to keep the UK in it.
“This issue is incredibly serious, the risk is deadly serious, I want everybody to come to their senses,” Tusk added.
As reported by the Reuters news agency, Warsaw has no plans to hold a UK-style referendum on remaining in the EU, which it joined in 2004, but the European Commission is conducting an unprecedented investigation into the rule of law in Poland as well as several legal cases.
Last month, ahead of local elections, it turned out that the Polish justice minister asked the constitutional court to check whether EU law was compatible with the Polish constitution, triggering anger among Poland’s generally pro-EU voters.
His comments helped independent and liberal candidates to win most mayoral posts in Polish cities and towns, limiting the overall scale of PiS’ gains in the local elections.
Tusk said those results served as a “big warning” for PiS.
