Politics is compromise

Poland, along with its 26 EU peers, signed the European Union Reform Treaty on December 13 in Lisbon. The treaty and the raft of reforms presented in it were not the focus of attention in Poland, however. Instead, a dispute between the President and Prime Minister over who controls foreign policy stole the show and the fact that the two came to an agreement in time for the signing of the Lisbon Treaty almost held more significance than the event itself.

The battle for foreign supremacy

The foreign policy row had been ongoing for some time. It reached its peak in November when Prime Minister Tusk cleared the way for Russia to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development without informing the President of the move beforehand.

Concerning the Lisbon Treaty, there had been uncertainty as to who would attend. President Kaczyński had initially said that he would attend both the signing of the treaty and an EU summit held in Brussels the next day. According to PM Tusk, speaking at a press conference, the President claimed he would "attend both summits, or neither."

The summit in Brussels, however, was a working meeting mainly for EU leaders to talk about the status of Kosovo, migration policy and economic issues. All matters which were to be discussed required agreement at the governmental level, thus there was no need for the President to be present. In any case, final decisions on policy matters during such summits fall under the PM's authority.

PM Tusk and President Kaczyński finally came to an agreement on the matter just one day before the Lisbon summit. In the end, the President joined the PM and Foreign Affairs Minister Radek Sikorski, serving as the head of Poland's delegation, but he did not attend the summit in Brussels. 

The treaty itself

The European Union Reform Treaty was signed by PM Tusk and Foreign Affairs Minister Sikorski, but it must be ratified by the Polish Parliament, and afterward by President Kaczyński, before it is enshrined in law. The President noted that the treaty would be good for both Poland and the EU. "In Poland's point of view, we managed to obtain as much as was possible," he said.

Among the key points of the Lisbon Treaty, new European Council President and Foreign Policy posts have been created. Member states' rights to veto have been removed from a number of policy areas and the number of European Commissioners have been reduced. As was previously agreed, Poland and the UK will be exempted from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, a set of human-rights provisos entering into force alongside the treaty.

"This outcome offers positive prospects for future cooperation between the President and Prime Minister on the level of the foreign policy," said Zbigniew Chlebowski, head of the ruling Civic Platform party's parliamentary club.