For two days now Jarosław Kaczyński has been accusing the PO of a lack of patriotism and loyalty towards the Polish people. The point of contention is a Monday resolution by the CDU/CSU in which the German party calls for an international condemnation of the post-WWII expulsions of Germans and for a 'right to a homeland also for the German expellees.'
According to Mr Kaczyński, the resolution means that Germans are trying to revive territorial disputes. Wednesday he called the resolution 'anti-Polish and anti-European' and added that it was 'wrong to treat Poland as a rubbish bin.'
Mr Kaczyński has presented the PO with an ultimatum: immediately following the European Parliament elections the PO should leave the European People's Party, whose member it is alongside, inter alia, the CDU/CSU, and together with the
PiS condemn the resolution in front of chancellor Angela Merkel when she visits Poland on 4 June. If the PO fails to do that, it will 'demonstrate disloyalty to the Polish people.'
'No one is calling borders into question, quite to the contrary. But at the same time, all EU citizens enjoy the freedom to travel,' Elmar Brok (CDU), former long-time chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, explained in a special communiqué issued yesterday. He protested the resolution's 'unfair interpretation.'
Although they have stressed their criticism of the CDU/CSU resolution throughout the whole affair, PO politicians called the PiS's anti-German campaign 'insane' at a press conference yesterday. The party's deputy president, Grzegorz Dolniak, said that the PO was 'disgusted by the PiS's attempts to improve its support ratings by stirring up conflicts in international relations.'
'This conflict has not solved anything in Polish-German relations. That is why we are calling for this argumentation, this warlike rhetoric to be ignored,' said
Paweł Zalewski, former deputy president of the PiS, today the PO's candidate for the European Parliament.
'What Jarosław Kaczyński is proposing for Poland today does damage to long-term efforts undertaken by the Polish diplomacy, to the Polish-German dialogue.'
Mr Zalewski added he was surprised by the PiS's personal attack against Chancellor Merkel, who had shown that Polish-German cooperation was important to her.
Polish foreign policy has become a 'hostage in Jarosław Kaczyński's hands,' said Mr Zalewski.
'We have a principle of not responding to stupid taunts,' said Sejm speaker Bronisław Komorowski (PO). He remembered how the PiS had used the German bugaboo before the last elections, and how Jarosław Kaczyński had claimed in the past that EU membership would deprive Poland of its identity. And then he went on to propose to Angela Merkel plans for a joint Polish-German armed force.
It seemed however that the PO politicians' comments only added fuel to the fire.
Speaking on
TVP early yesterday,
Jacek Kurski (PiS) accused the PO of being unpatriotic. He said that during the interwar period there also was a group of politicians and commentators who ignored Adolf Hitler's aggressive statements.
Mr Kaczyński himself said on TVN24 that the PO 'cares nothing about Polish national interests' and that Mr Tusk 'causes damage to Poland.'
The PiS leader put forward another initiative yesterday. In a letter to prime minister Donald Tusk he suggested that the two parties should amend the constitution so as to 'prevent any attempts to challenge Polish ownership in western and northern Poland.'
Presidential minister Władysław Stasiak said Wednesday president
Lech Kaczyński expected a 'calm but firm reaction' from the government on the CDU/CSU resolution. Yesterday, another presidential minister, Piotr Kownacki, said the resolution had the president 'seriously worried.
