Those who hoped that Donald Tusk had changed over the last eight years out of office were deluding themselves. He is to return as prime minister and with him an infantile attitude toward national ambitions, development plans, and serious consideration of security.
They will all be marginalized as we return to polemics, PR tricks, and being patted on the back by the Western mainstream media for debatable achievements.
But don’t take my word for it. Here it is from the “horse’s mouth” on the subject of the planned central airport. Just this week, Tusk said that when he was prime minister, much was done to improve regional airports in preparation for the Euro 2012 soccer championship co-hosted by Poland and that these decade-old upgrades are still sufficient in the modern day.
He added that he prefers to get in a taxi and be at the airport in 20 minutes rather than have to go to a railway station and get on a train and that the actual construction will take many years and will entail a huge cost.
As usual, Tusk is taking the easy way out. Why all the effort that could lead to criticism and which may lead to conflicts with the interests of a powerful neighbor? Surely, Poland is to be a modest country that does not try to punch above its weight and follow the lead given by its Western neighbor Germany.
Tusk at first will fear blocking nuclear power or defense spending, as that would be roundly condemned by public opinion and the U.S. alike. But his attitude toward the central airport project shows his real direction of travel. It is an investment project that shows the key difference between the current conservative PiS government and what seems to be returning.
Germany does not want the central airport and other such investments because they build Poland’s economic power and influence in the region. Tusk knows that only too well and does not wish to confront the Germans or other Western European countries.
It looks as if Tusk will fail the test on the central airport project by blocking it. The signal will go out that the Polish state is retreating once more and has no intention of being a driving force for development.
