Post-Election Poland
October 31, 2007
Conservative president Lech Kaczynski rejected the Civic Platform party's decision to accept the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights at an EU summit scheduled for December in Lisbon.
"It raises two threats: to our national identity and regarding property in Poland abandoned by Germans," Kaczynski said in an interview with the daily Rzeczpospolita paper,
Donald Tusk, waiting on the sidelines to become prime minister, has vowed to end the policies that often left Warsaw the odd man out at EU meetings.
The center-right Civic Platform party led by Tusk won the Oct. 21 parliamentary election, ousting Lech's twin brother, Jaroslaw, from the office of prime minister.
Property worries
At an EU summit in Lisbon just before elections in Poland, the Polish delegation led by Lech Kaczynski argued that the EU charter was at odds with deeply Catholic country's stance, notably in its views on gay rights. Both Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski have also said a charter could lead to an easing of anti-abortion laws in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.
Furthermore, the conservative Kaczynski government argued that the European Court of Justice could use the charter to force Poland to return confiscated German property to Germans expelled after World War II. Around a third of present-day Poland was part of pre-war Germany.
Last week, the European Commission dismissed the notion that Polish adoption of the rights charter would open the door to German claims since EU law does not regulate land ownership issues.
This month, the president and his twin brother, Jaroslaw, had agreed to a new EU reform treaty but, together with Britain, secured an opt-out from the fundamental rights charter.
The reform treaty aims to streamline the EU's functioning after its expansion from 15 to 27 members, while the charter binds EU institutions to respect the basic rights of its citizens.
Tusk to be appointed prime minister
Tusk has said he is taking Kaczynski's concerns seriously: "I believe it is rather in Poland's interest to sign up to the charter but I cannot ignore signals opposing it, coming also from the head of state," Tusk said in a television interview late on Tuesday, according to the Reuters news agency.
Reuters also reported that Tusk hopes to meet with President Kaczynski to discuss Poland's position as soon as he is nominated prime minister.
Poland's newly elected parliament meets for the first time this Monday; Kaczynski will then have two weeks to nominate Tusk.
Should he refuse, parliament -- where the Civic Platform and its smaller coalition partner now have a majority -- would appoint Tusk.