Euroskeptics form own political group to protest integration
Made up of a group of previously expelled Solidarity Election Action (AWS) deputies along with trade union members and right-wing religious groups, the new party will lobby for voters and legislators to sink any chances of Poland joining the European Union (EU).
ŇWe want to persuade people in Poland to vote against integration, when it comes to a referendum,O said Mariusz Olszewski, a deputy of Our Group (NK), the parliamentary group previously expelled from AWS. ŇIntegration into the European Union is not worth the effort.O
Party founders include deputies from Our Group as well as representatives of Polish Family (RP), an association close to catholic radio station Radio Maryja. Other founders include members of the Solidarity trade union from tractor factory Ursus and representatives of the National Party (SN).
Party founders said that their objections to EU membership were both economic and philosophical in nature. The economic arguments center around fears that the country's agriculture industry will not receive the same level of subsidies as other EU members if Poland actually joins the union. The political group is also afraid that Western Europeans will have the right and the means to buy up cheap land throughout the country.
On the philosophical side, party founders said they simply bristle at the idea of being governed by the EU's Ňliberal ideology.O
ŇThere is a threat of secularization of life since the European Union Đ whose ideological roots are in the French revolution Đ lacks a spirit,O Olszewski said. ŇFamily is never a topic discussed at an EU forum.O
Porozumienie has ambitions to become a full-fledged political party. According to Olszewski, it could be registered in the fall, after it completes work on its platform.
ŇOur Euroskepticism is only a fragment of the program we are working on,O Olszewski said. ŇIt will cover all areas that are a basis for state functioning.O
Olszewski reckoned that the party could count on attracting a support base of about 15% of the electorate, Ňwhose anti-European views are currently not represented by any party at the Sejm.O
Piotr Jaroszy[ski, president of Polish Family, said that Our Group was practically the only political body that has kept the public informed about the possible threats of integration.
ŇThere are people within the AWS who share our views, but because of the coalition's political conditions, they speak the opposite,O Jaroszy[ski said.
Meanwhile, Piotr Nowina-Konopka, a deputy from the Freedom Union (UW) and a former vice president of the EU negotiating team, said that doubts about joining the EU were justified, and that many parties in Poland had voiced those concerns.
ŇWe have long said that integration requires a great effort from society, but at the same time we keep saying the final outcome is worth it,O he said. ŇWhat Porozumienie plans to do might easily evolve into nothing else but playing with people's fears.O
ŇWe want to persuade people in Poland to vote against integration, when it comes to a referendum,O said Mariusz Olszewski, a deputy of Our Group (NK), the parliamentary group previously expelled from AWS. ŇIntegration into the European Union is not worth the effort.O
Party founders include deputies from Our Group as well as representatives of Polish Family (RP), an association close to catholic radio station Radio Maryja. Other founders include members of the Solidarity trade union from tractor factory Ursus and representatives of the National Party (SN).
Party founders said that their objections to EU membership were both economic and philosophical in nature. The economic arguments center around fears that the country's agriculture industry will not receive the same level of subsidies as other EU members if Poland actually joins the union. The political group is also afraid that Western Europeans will have the right and the means to buy up cheap land throughout the country.
On the philosophical side, party founders said they simply bristle at the idea of being governed by the EU's Ňliberal ideology.O
ŇThere is a threat of secularization of life since the European Union Đ whose ideological roots are in the French revolution Đ lacks a spirit,O Olszewski said. ŇFamily is never a topic discussed at an EU forum.O
Porozumienie has ambitions to become a full-fledged political party. According to Olszewski, it could be registered in the fall, after it completes work on its platform.
ŇOur Euroskepticism is only a fragment of the program we are working on,O Olszewski said. ŇIt will cover all areas that are a basis for state functioning.O
Olszewski reckoned that the party could count on attracting a support base of about 15% of the electorate, Ňwhose anti-European views are currently not represented by any party at the Sejm.O
Piotr Jaroszy[ski, president of Polish Family, said that Our Group was practically the only political body that has kept the public informed about the possible threats of integration.
ŇThere are people within the AWS who share our views, but because of the coalition's political conditions, they speak the opposite,O Jaroszy[ski said.
Meanwhile, Piotr Nowina-Konopka, a deputy from the Freedom Union (UW) and a former vice president of the EU negotiating team, said that doubts about joining the EU were justified, and that many parties in Poland had voiced those concerns.
ŇWe have long said that integration requires a great effort from society, but at the same time we keep saying the final outcome is worth it,O he said. ŇWhat Porozumienie plans to do might easily evolve into nothing else but playing with people's fears.O
