Poland’s liberal opposition leader, Donald Tusk, is under tremendous pressure as a Belgian police investigation regarding corruption ramps up, said former Polish labor minister and MEP for the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS), Elżbieta Rafalska.
Rafalska said the Civic Platform (PO), the main Polish opposition party led by Tusk, has decided to cancel a planned session of the European People’s Party (EPP) in Poland. This action shows that the grouping is seriously concerned about the evolving corruption scandal, which recently saw the EPP offices searched by Belgian police.
According to Rafalska, Polish opposition politicians are concerned that the affair could affect Tusk and the party he leads in Poland. This, Rafalska feels, is inevitable given the fact that the police investigation covers the period when Tusk was the leader of the party.
The Belgian police retrieved computers and documents in recent searches of party premises as they continue to investigate alleged corruption during the European Parliamentary election campaign in 2019. It has so far centered on German CDU politician Mario Voigt, a close associate of the current EPP leader, Manfred Weber.
Elżbieta Rafalska claimed the outbreak of the scandal in the EPP has created a heated and tense atmosphere in the European Parliament. It has until recently been presumed that the corruption was contained to the European Socialist group. However, the actions taken by Belgian police mean that the matter is serious, many EPP politicians are “currently suffering sleepless nights,” and Donald Tusk is also terrified, according to the Polish MEP.
Asked what Tusk is afraid of, Rafalska believes he fears being tainted by corruption that may have taken place inside the EPP during his period in office. She pointed out the EPP’s hypocrisy and lies in attacking Poland over alleged violations of the rule of law when its own party has plenty of its own problems staying on the right side of the law.
