The last few weeks have seen Polish domestic politics dominated by discussions on Europe and for as long as the continent's crisis continues, that is likely to be the case. It is the attitude towards Europe that has drawn the line of demarcation between the competing parties in Poland.
On the one side we have Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government which has made it very clear that it favors closer integration with the EU and wants to remain in what it has termed “Europe's mainstream.”
Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski went even further in his much-publicized Berlin speech in November, saying that a European federation is needed, one which would have Germany in the driving seat.
The government's stance is shared by the opposition parties Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and Palikot's Movement (RP).
Traitors
In the opposing trench, we have politicians from Poland's biggest opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), saying Mr Sikorski longs for the “Fourth Reich” and that “Poles would be like Indians in the reservations” in the Europe proposed by the foreign minister. They say Poland's sovereignty is under threat and that Mr Sikorski is a traitor.
In a rally organized by PiS on December 13, party leader Jarosław Kaczyński said that “if not for the sick state of our country, we would be marching forward like China, we would be the leader of the world. Wake up Poland.”
Mr Kaczyński either a) has a rather tenuous grasp of reality, b) got carried away by the moment or c) is just trying to rally his electorate with rhetoric he knows is pure rubbish.
Alternatively, a combination of all these three factors stood behind his ramblings.
Why should we pay for them?
PiS has also slammed the PM for agreeing to a Polish contribution to the €200 billion loan to the IMF which will be used to assist euro zone members who are at risk.
“Why should we, poor Poland, pay for the excesses of the Italians and the Greeks who are much richer than we?” is the general gist of their protest.
The average Pole, who sees prices rising practically every week (while wages barely keep up), can definitely identify with this message. PiS is hoping people will get sufficiently frustrated with their personal situations that they stop supporting the pro-European government, opting instead for what Mr Kaczyński has called “a truly Polish government” (read: one led by the PiS leader himself).
PiS of course neglected to mention to their electorate that one of the euro zone countries in trouble, Italy, is the third-biggest net payer to the EU while Poland remains the biggest net receiver of EU funds. In 2009, for example, Italy paid in EUR6 billion to the EU's coffers while Poland received roughly the same amount in funds.
But there have always been those on Poland's right who treat the EU as useful for only as long as it remains a cash cow. “If they're giving money, of course we'll take it. After all we suffered for so many years under communism because the West betrayed us after the Second World War, so we deserve it,” is the sentiment often expressed by some rightist circles in Poland.
Well ... he didn't really mean it
But PiS's anti-federation narrative has been damaged by a speech which Donald Tusk quoted while addressing parliament last week.
“If Europe wants to create a new entity ... one which will last for many generations, one which maybe sometime in history will become a federation that would be very powerful on a world scale, then it has to pass this exam: [deeper integration for countries to the east of Europe, like Ukraine].”
“And I would encourage this, even while representing a country which is currently gaining from EU membership but which would, if what I am talking about were to come true, gain less. I realize that and I agree to it in advance.”
This statement was made by none other than the late President Lech Kaczyński, co-founder of PiS, in a speech he gave in Berlin in 2006.
PiS was furious, saying Mr Tusk had taken the words out of context and that Lech Kaczyński hadn't really called for a European federation – but that didn't change the fact that the late president did actually use the F-word in his Berlin speech.
Even Donald Tusk has not done so thus far, which shows just how sensitive the matter is in Poland.
Politically profitable
Indeed, portraying itself as a party which is fighting to keep Poland independent while PO wants to make it a German colony has worked for PiS so far.
The latest TNS-OBOP poll showed support for the party at 27 percent, up from the 19 percent support it had before Mr Sikorski's controversial Berlin speech and the whole sovereignty debate started in earnest.
Support for PO also increased, albeit on a much lower level – 38 percent now back the ruling party, up from 36 percent in the previous poll.
Meanwhile, in another TNS OBOP survey Poles were asked if they agreed with Mr Sikorski's proposal for a European federation. Just over a third supported the idea, just over a third were against it and the rest had no opinion. It is those in the third group that both parties are now fighting to draw into their camp.
Since 2007, PiS has not been able to defeat PO in any election, irrespective of the domestic issues they have raised during campaigns.
But with the mood darkening in Europe and with people feeling increasingly wary of what the future holds for them, Jarosław Kaczyński's party now hopes that what has up until now been one of PO's greatest strengths among Polish voters, namely their strong pro-European stance, will eventually be the cause of their downfall.
