European People’s Party leader Donald Tusk’s claim that Viktor Orban and Matteo Salvini are “pro-Putin” is hypocritical given Tusk’s open alliance with Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD), two parties that have actively supported Russia in a variety of ways, including the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Donald Tusk’s criticism of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki comes after the last week meeting between Morawiecki, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and League leader Matteo Salvini in Budapest. One of the main topics of this meeting was the creation of a new right group in the European Parliament, which would be comprised of Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS), Hungary’s Fidesz and the Italian League party.
In response to the meeting, Tusk posted on social media that the eventual creation of the new political force in the European Parliament would benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Russia is mobilizing its forces around Ukraine. The US has declared a state of emergency in Europe. Morawiecki is organizing a pro-Putin bloc with Orbán and Salvini in Budapest. This is not April Fool’s,” Tusk wrote on Twitter.
Both Orbán and Salvini have been accused by the Polish opposition of being favorable towards Russia’s leader. The Speaker of the Polish Senate and one of the opposition’s leader Tomasz Grodzki also recently criticized the Budapest meeting
PiS MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski responded to Tusk’s accusations on Polish Radio 24. He pointed out that the establishment of something akin to the Polish “United Right” in the European Parliament would be a political threat to the Civic Platform (PO) along with other left-leaning parties.
“The creation of a new Untied Right in the European Parliament is a threat to the mainstream, mainly to the Civic Platform, Polish People’s Party (PSL), Left Party and the CDU. This is where Tusk and his political sympathizers’ recent attacks have been stemming from,” Saryusz-Wolski said.
He also refuted Tusk’s accusations concerning creating a “pro-Putin” bloc. The MEP stated that such an approach would more likely be found among politicians close to Tusk himself.
“If Tusk wants to find pro-Russian or pro-Putin sympathies, he should look to his friends from the CDU, SPD or to Gerhard Schröder,” Saryusz-Wolski stated. The German government, led by CDU and SPD, is currently pushing for the completion of the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, a project that both Poland and the United States are working to stop as the pipeline would prove a massive boon to Russia.
There are also allegations that Germany tried to “bribe” the US to allow for the project’s completion and an end to sanctions on German companies participating in the pipeline’s construction.
Saryusz-Wolski added that the main nucleus of pro-Russian and pro-Putin sympathies lies among today’s European mainstream — the socialists, liberals and the left.
