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Poland
snubbed twice in EU summit fiasco
By ALEKSANDRA
ERIKSSON, ESZTER ZALAN AND PETER TEFFER
BRUSSELS, 9. MAR,
22:41
[Updated on 10 March
at 7.50]
Poland tried and
failed to block summit conclusions shortly after failing to block
Donald Tusk’s re-election in an EU summit drama.
Polish leader Beata
Szydlo said she would not sign the text in revenge for being outvoted
over Tusk's re-election as EU Council chief by 27 to one.
In an unprecedented
move the conclusions were eventually published under the title:
“Conclusions by the president of the European Council".
"The European
Council deliberated on the attached document. It was supported by 27
members of the European Council, but it did not gather consensus, for
reasons unrelated to its substance," the document said on its
first page.
"References to
the European Council in the attached document should not be read as
implying a formal endorsement by the European Council acting as an
institution," it added.
It is highly
irregular for a country to reject the whole summit communique.
Normally, member
states are unhappy with some aspects, or want to tweak the wording,
which is agreed in lengthy negotiations. To reject the entire text -
which ranges from migration to deeper defence cooperation - is a
different matter.
The publication of
the conclusions despite Poland's opposition was a second snub, hours
after 27 EU leaders left Szydlo alone in opposing Tusk’s
reappointment.
She said the
re-election of Tusk, a political opponent of her ruling Law and
Justice party, was an insult to her country.
She also said it
ought to be a matter of principle not to elect an EU president who
did not enjoy the support of his home country.
"How can it be
that 27 European leaders don't want to hear the arguments of a member
state, which has justified grounds to doubt that a candidate should
be chosen to a post," she told a news conference.
"Why don't we
respect each other, listen to each other? That's today the largest
problem of the EU," Szydlo said.
The European Council
served a narrow set of countries, she added, in a thinly veiled
reference to Germany. She said she had reminded leaders they too
could be steamrolled.
"Today it's
about Poland, but soon you too can find yourself in this situation,"
Szydlo said.
She added that such
"hastily solutions" were evidence the EU was not bound by
principles.
'What happened is
very bad'
She did not clarify
whether she would cooperate with Tusk in future, but said she would
participate in Friday's informal meetings on the Rome summit on the
future of Europe.
"Migration,
Brexit and today show that things are not going in the right
direction, and we cherish the EU too much to let it fall apart,"
she said, adding that her Europe was a "united Europe,
respectful of its members, dealing with matters important to EU
citizens".
Asked if Poland, as
a net recipient of EU funds, had been right to stand on its veto, she
said most of the money went back to western firms who were contracted
on European projects.
"I hear very
often that central European countries benefit from the EU budget and
because of this should be obedient," she said.
Reactions from the
Polish were equally bitter.
Szydlo’s party
chief, Kaczynski, said: “Donald Tusk will not be able to function
with the red and white flag [of Poland] ... What happened is very
bad.”
His foreign
minister, Witold Waszczykowski, told Polish broadcaster TVN24: “We
know that now this is a Union controlled by Berlin.”
Tusk grateful
The newly re-elected
Tusk said he was "grateful for the trust the European Council
has placed in me, but now is not the time for self-congratulations. I
can only state that I will continue to work for a better and more
united Europe with all member states, without exception.”
He said he wanted to
cooperate with every member of the European Council.
"I will do
everything I can to protect the Polish government against political
isolation, this is for obvious reasons,” he said.
Tusk said he would
communicate with the Polish government in Polish.
European Commission
president Jean-Claude Juncker joked that “hopefully this is a
language the Polish government can understand."
Presidents of the
European Council are elected by qualified majority, and there is
nothing in the treaties saying they need to enjoy the support of
their home country.
German chancellor
Angela Merkel said that 27 countries thought they had worked very
well with Tusk and they wished to continue the relations.
"Even if
qualified majority exists, it's important to find consensus, but
seeking consensus should not be abused by imposing blockade,"
she said.
"We looked at
what the treaty stipulate, the decision was taken on basis of the
treaty," she told reporters, adding that "we want to have a
good relation with Poland".
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Poland,
failing to tar Tusk, paints itself into a corner
EU
leaders swat aside Warsaw’s opposition to another term for the
European Council president.
By DAVID M.
HERSZENHORN, QUENTIN ARIÈS AND JOANNA PLUCINSKA 3/10/17, 12:25 AM
CET Updated 3/10/17, 9:09 AM CET
After failing to
prevent the reelection of European Council President Donald Tusk,
Poland lashed out at the EU at a summit in Brussels Thursday only to
find itself isolated, as leaders shrugged off Prime Minister Beata
Szydło’s threats to block the Council’s formal summit
conclusions in protest.
The reappointment of
Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, was the first time that the EU,
which often seems to prize consensus and collegiality above all,
acted to name a senior leader over the bitter objections of the
candidate’s home country. Previously, the Council president was
always chosen by acclamation.
But far from seeming
rattled by the discord, EU leaders expressed confidence that they had
not let a petty Polish domestic political dispute take precedence
over the Continent’s collective interests. In several cases, they
even laughed at Poland’s expense, saying Warsaw’s efforts had
only helped Tusk.
“I don’t have
any intention of being impressed by Polish mood swings,” Belgian
Prime Minister Charles Michel said at a news conference. “This was
more like the translation, the export, to the European level of an
internal national political question. Nobody was duped by that.”
With a smile, Michel
added, “Maybe, in the end, Poland succeeded in doing a very good
campaign in favor of Donald Tusk.”
While some
officials, including Tusk, tried to extend an olive branch, there was
also discussion about how Poland might pay a price for its actions,
including stepped-up efforts in Brussels to hold Warsaw accountable
for alleged rule-of-law violations, and potentially more rigorous
scrutiny of its national finances.
“I
definitely won’t accept any document from this summit” —
Beata Szydło
European Commission
Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis appeared to fire a warning shot
Thursday evening when he tweeted: “Despite robust growth, #Poland’s
budget deficit is projected at 3 percent of GDP in 2018, which is
source of concern.”
At her own defiant
news conference, Szydło denounced the Council’s vote for Tusk —
27 to 1 — over Poland’s objection, and insisted that Poland’s
refusal to endorse the summit conclusions would render the meeting
meaningless — a point that other leaders said was legally and
politically false.
“It’s clearly
written that summits end with conclusions,” Szydło said. “If one
country doesn’t accept it, it means the summit is not relevant. If
now there is a way to find a different solution, that only shows that
there are no rules and Poland doesn’t agree with this. And I
definitely won’t accept any document from this summit.”
However, speculation
that Szydło would walk out of the meeting proved overblown. In fact,
she took an active part in discussions later in the day, noting
Poland’s strong economic performance and expressing satisfaction at
economic growth across the EU, according to an official who was
present.
Poland’s
opposition to Tusk was hardly a surprise. The leader of the governing
Law and Justice party in Warsaw, Jarosław Kaczyński, is Tusk’s
longtime arch nemesis and holds Tusk personally responsible for the
2010 plane crash in Smolensk, Russia, that killed a delegation of
high-level Polish officials, including his twin brother,
then-President Lech Kaczyński.
But in opposing Tusk
for a second two-and-a-half-year term, Poland was abandoned even by
its closest allies — Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic —
fellow members of the Visegrád Four.
Pressed by a
reporter about Poland apparently having painted itself into a lonely
corner, Szydło fired back: “I am not afraid of isolation.”
But it was clear
that Warsaw had pushed itself to the edge, making even the U.K.,
which is ditching the EU, look collegial by comparison.
European spirit
French President
François Hollande said Poland’s effort to block the official
conclusions would not make any difference, as the Council could find
other ways to formalize its actions.
The EU treaties
specify that the European Council president can be chosen by a
qualified majority, and support for Tusk was overwhelming not only
from his own center-right European People’s Party, but also from
leaders in the center-left Socialists & Democrats and the
centrist Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.
An effort by Poland
to put forward a challenger to Tusk, long-serving Polish member of
the European Parliament Jacek Saryusz-Wolksi, flopped.
“There couldn’t
have been a replacement,” Hollande said. “It’s not in the
spirit of the European Council. It’s quite simply not in the
European spirit.”
“The
search for a consensus must not be used as a blockade” —
Angela Merkel
German Chancellor
Angela Merkel described Poland’s opposition as expected and
regrettable but said the vote for Tusk was legitimate and that a
desire for consensus should not be an excuse for paralysis.
“I
think a search for consensus is important even with qualified
majority voting,” Merkel said. “When you’re not
dependent on getting unanimity and a qualified majority is possible,
you should still try to find a consensus. But, of course, the search
for a consensus must not be used as a blockade.”
Warsaw has been
locked in bitter confrontations with Brussels for months over steps
by the Law and Justice government that EU officials say have eroded
democracy and rule of law, including a reshaping of the
Constitutional Court.
In addition to the
long-running political blood feud, Kaczyński must be calculating
that Tusk could return home after the end of his second term and run
for president in 2019.
Law and Justice
leaders have accused Tusk of using his position in Brussels to
undermine their government and party leader Kaczyński was furious.
“What happened is very bad,” he said. “A politician was chosen
who broke all of the rules that used to bind the EU, more
specifically rules regarding neutrality. He didn’t maintain this
neutrality and one can say he did it in a radical way.”
Polish Foreign
Minister Witold Waszczykowski also denounced Tusk’s reappointed.
“We know that now this is a Union controlled by Berlin,” he said.
Political opposition
leaders in Poland were gleeful.
“Poland won, Law
and Justice lost,” said Grzegorz Schetyna, the leader of Tusk’s
Civic Platform party. “Poland won and Europe won.”
MEP Jerzy Buzek, a
former Polish prime minister also from Civic Platform, declared,
“It’s a good finale for Poland and all of Europe.”
Some
officials said Poland’s antagonism of Brussels could prompt a push
for formal discussions of the alleged rule-of-law violations.
Tusk himself held
out olive branches. First, in response to his re-election, he tweeted
in Polish: “Thanks for crossing your fingers and for your sincere
support. It helped.”
Later at a news
conference with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker,
Tusk said: “I want to cooperate with every member of the European
Council and I will do everything I can to protect the Polish
government against political isolation here.”
When a reporter
asked how he would communicate with Warsaw given the government’s
reluctance to work with him, Tusk said: “I will communicate with
the Polish government in Polish.” Juncker, drawing laughter, chimed
in: “Hopefully this is a language the Polish government will
understand.”
A senior Central
European official with close knowledge of European Council
discussions, said the atmosphere in meetings was peaceful, despite
Poland’s dissatisfaction. “It made everybody united and wanting
to move forward,” the official said.
Still, some
officials said Poland’s antagonism of Brussels could prompt a push
for formal discussions of the alleged rule-of-law violations. Many
officials view the triggering of Article 7, a treaty provision
allowing the suspension of an EU nation’s voting rights, as a
“nuclear” option, unlikely to be used. But calling a formal
meeting on Poland’s alleged violations in the EU General Affairs
Council could substantially amp up pressure.
Szydło suggested
that Poland’s protest could continue during a discussion Friday
among EU leaders, minus U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, about a
scheduled celebration next month of the 60th anniversary of the
Treaty of Rome. Leaders are working toward a joint declaration about
their vision of Europe’s future.
Italian Prime
Minister Paolo Gentiloni urged Poland not to make the celebration a
target of its anger. “I cannot see a link with the 60th anniversary
of the European Union and its next ten years,” he said.
Back to business
At their news
conference, Tusk and Juncker sought to stay focused on other
important business, including sending a pointed message to the Trump
administration and others about the EU’s continued commitment to
free trade. They said the EU would press ahead with efforts to
conclude a new free trade agreement with Japan and that they would
meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later this month in Brussels.
Tusk and Juncker
also expressed satisfaction with recent economic data showing growth
in all EU countries. “Growth has picked up,” Juncker said. “This
is not dazzling growth. It’s not breathtaking, but at least we can
see things are improving.”
Other leaders also
tried to stay focused on broader issues. Croatian Prime Minister
Andrej Plenković said that Europe was at a crossroads and that a
rigorous debate was needed to put out a strong statement in Rome
about the bloc’s future.
“I’m sad to say,
this reflects that something bad is happening in the EU” — Beata
Szydło
“My strong belief
is that they should strengthen the democratic character of the
European institutions and the fact that we should be focusing on
preventing populists and demagogues in getting more support across
the European continent, because this is key,” Plenković said. “I
think this is a make it or break it situation for the European
Union.”
Szydło said Tusk’s
election indicated problems in the EU that could overshadow the Rome
celebration.
“If in Rome there
will be an attempt to say that everything is good, that we’re going
in the right direction, and only small cosmetic changes are needed,
but otherwise we are happy with ourselves, then the EU will enter a
crisis,” she said. “We need deep reforms.”
“I’m sad to
say,” the Polish prime minister added, returning to the issue of
Tusk, “This reflects that something bad is happening in the EU.”
Jacopo Barigazzi,
Maïa de la Baume, Florian Eder, Andrew Gray, Florian Müller and
Carmen Paun contributed reporting.
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