Poland: demonstrations in favor of the EU across the country

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October 10, 2021 Poles are gathering in cities across the country to show support for the European Union after the nation's Constitutional Court ruled this week that the Polish Charter prevails over certain European laws. Donald Tusk, the main opposition leader in Poland and former EU leader, called the protest, calling it an effort to defend Poland's membership of the EU. "We have to save Poland, nobody will do it for us," Tusk said.

The majority of Poles, according to polls, remain in favor of staying in the EU, but relations between Warsaw and Brussels have become strained since the populist Law and Justice party came to power in 2015. In particular on the rule of law, since years, an arm wrestling is underway.

Tvn24 aired scenes of crowds gathering in Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan and other cities with EU and Polish flags. In Warsaw, whose mayor is from Tusk's Civic Platform party, the flags of the EU and Poland fly in the streets and from buses.

Critics of the right-wing nationalist government fear that the Constitutional Court's ruling could lead to an eventual "Polexit" or that Poland will eventually be forced to leave the EU. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's government has denied that the executive is trying to leave the bloc, although prominent party members have recently used language suggesting that this may be their target.

"We want an independent, European, democratic, law-abiding and just Poland. These principles are today crushed by a power devoid of conscience and morality". Donald Tusk said this while participating in one of the pro-EU demonstrations taking place in several cities in Poland. "They want to leave the EU, violate the rights of citizens, be able to steal without restraint", said the former president of the EU Council, lashing out at the conservatives in government. Thousands of people gathered in the squares of Warsaw and other cities. "I stay in the Union" is one of the slogans.

"The role of the European Union is to support the development of countries, without imposing on them ideas contrary to their history and identity and without imposing on them legal solutions that are incompatible with their legal system": thus the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, in a video message broadcast during the national convention of the Spanish ultra-nationalists of Vox.

"We cannot leave this aspect in the hands of those who do not understand that unity is not homologation. We must protect the differences of national communities, because the strength of our continent depends on these differences", added the Polish premier.