A German commentator residing in Poland has advised Poland’s new government to use the “police state” he claims was built by the outgoing conservative administration against them in order to “restore democracy.”
Klaus Bachmann, a political commentator for Berliner Zeitung, suggested Donald Tusk’s new left-liberal coalition could “simply pass all the most important reforms through executive orders, which would violate the then applicable regulations and constitution, but has the advantage that the president would not be able to block them.”
He added that if the Constitutional Tribunal still wanted to repeal them, the government could simply refuse to publish the relevant verdict, a method Bachmann claimed was adopted by the Law and Justice (PiS) administration over the last eight years.
“In short: If the new government really wants to rule, it must direct the entire force of the police state that PiS has built against PiS and the president,” he wrote.
Bachmann also described a scenario where Donald Tusk might declare a state of emergency and potentially outlaw the Law and Justice (PiS) party.
This move, according to the German journalist, represents a unique experiment on the global stage where a democratically elected coalition might use undemocratic means to steer the country back to democratic norms.
“Whatever the new government plans to do in terms of economic and financial policy, it will be counteracted by the National Bank, a central bank that guarantees the retention of power by one party rather than monetary stability,” he wrote.
“In their love for PiS, its boss and the majority of the members of the National Bank Council even went so far as to deliberately weaken the Polish currency, even though they have the constitutional mandate to strengthen it. And they fueled inflation, contrary to the mandate to combat it,” Bachmann continued.
“Both were successful: The złoty exchange rate jumped like a March hare, inflation was at times twice as high as in the eurozone, and both poured more money into the state budget.”
All over the country, men from the PiS leadership have been collecting tax money in recent weeks and putting it into museums, centers, companies, and foundations from which the new government can no longer get it back because a city council dominated by PiS supporters has the right to veto any changes to the statutes, he argued.
Bachmann suggested that Tusk could use the pretext of a national crisis to limit fundamental freedoms, suppress the opposition party, and exert pressure on judges and courts.
“He may use the pretext of declaring a state of emergency and restricting basic freedoms, crushing and banning the opposition party, exerting pressure on judges and courts, and offering the leading representatives of the defeated an irresistible deal: that they will come out of this unscathed if they provide enough incriminating material against their former allies. But which democratic statesman would want to go down in history as the one who, in trying to save democracy, completely abolished it?” wrote Bachmann.
The commentator noted that despite the liberal and leftist takeover from a nationalist and anti-European government, Poland is still not a “flawless democracy.” This transition does not automatically make Poland a democracy, emphasizing the nature of the current government’s approach.
This is not the first controversial article by Bachmann about the post-election situation in Poland. He had earlier suggested that the opposition might need to adopt “police state” tactics to govern effectively, including breaking the Polish constitution.
Bachmann argued that the new government could bypass established procedures and enact major reforms through executive orders, a move that would contravene current laws and the constitution but avoid presidential obstruction.
