By attacking Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party and calling it “an enemy,” Manfred Weber is flying a kite in an attempt to break up the European Conservative Reformers (ECR), Prof. Tomasz Grosse, a political scientist from the University of Warsaw, has claimed.
“He is working on breaking up this faction, he wants to pull Giorgia Meloni to his side. At the same time, he wants to isolate PiS,” the professor told conservative news outlet dorzeczy.pl.
However, Grosse says that Weber is also openly interfering in the Polish elections, repeating a narrative that is ever-present in the German media and among German governing elites, a narrative that is openly hostile to Poland. Manfred Weber is attempting to demonstrate that his political block can openly support Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk against the country’s conservative government.
He is appearing as a defender of democracy and the rule of law while attempting to cancel political forces such as PiS that don’t share his vision of European integration and German interests, Grosse claimed.
Weber wants a hegemony that is essentially anti-European as it threatens harmonious relations between nations in Europe. Weber’s actions are “a breach of the standards of democracy, law, and European values. This is harmful for the future of the EU, as it poisons relations between European nations,” said the Polish academic.
But Grosse believes that there is also another dimension to Weber’s remarks about isolating PiS and bringing democracy and the rule of law back to Poland. He points to the fact that it is in the German interest to attempt to sow discord in relations between Poland and Germany. Weber knows that Ukraine needs German support in the EU and by arguing that this Polish government is unacceptable for Germany, he is encouraging Ukraine to become hostile to it too.
The political scientist points to the fact that the moment there is any disagreement between Poland and Ukraine, as there is over the grain embargo, Germany straight away jumps in and supports Ukraine in the European Commission demanding an end to the embargo.
But Grosse hopes that Ukraine in the end will understand that conflict with Poland is not in its interests and that Germany still harbors a desire to do deals with Moscow.
