Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that a potential Polish exit from the European Union is becoming a real threat, accusing right-wing President Karol Nawrocki and opposition parties of pushing the country away from the bloc, writes Politico.
In a post on the X, Tusk said that both factions of the far-right Confederation Alliance and a majority of Law and Justice (PiS) lawmakers want to expel Poland from the EU. He called such a scenario a disaster and promised to do everything possible to prevent it from happening.
Tusk also linked the risk of a Polexit or Poland’s exit from the EU to forces seeking to disrupt the bloc, including Russia, the MAGA movement in the US and European far-right leaders led by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The Polish prime minister’s warnings come after Nawrocki used his veto power on the 12th of March to block a bill that would have given Poland access to a 43.7 billion euros EU loan for defence purposes. Tusk’s government does not have the majority needed to override the president’s veto, and Nawrocki’s actions have deepened concerns about Poland’s ability to finance defence spending, which this year was set to approach 5% of GDP.
Tusk warned that Nawrocki’s veto would weaken Poland’s position within the EU.
Former PiS European Affairs Minister Konrad Szymański wrote in a newspaper column that Poland’s nationalist right-wing is moving towards a path closer to Polexit.
Recent polls show that support for leaving the EU remains low in Poland, but it is no longer just a fringe idea. About one in ten Poles would support starting the process of leaving, but the majority of the country’s population supports remaining in the bloc.
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