The Polish pro-European opposition displays its “million march” 15 days before the elections

2023-10-01 16:56:49

The Polish pro-European opposition of the former prime minister Donald Tusk exhibited his power mobilization with the “Million Hearts March”, 15 days before the general elections and with the ultra-conservative government party Law and Justice (PiS) in first position in the polls. “No one can stop us, a giant has woken up,” said Tusk, leader of the Civic Platform (PO), before a demonstration that packed the center of Warsaw. Was the largest demonstration ever seen in the capital, according to a statement released by the mayor’s office, led by the liberal Rafal Trzaskowski (who in 2020 was a candidate for the country’s presidency for the PO). Tusk had previously spoken of “close to a million people”, while the Police lowered the figure to around 100,000.

It was the second great march called by Tusk to say “enough” to the rule of the PiS, after which ran through Warsaw in June with half a million people. He summoned her PO, the alliance between four parties led by Tuskand also had the support of the leftist Lewica.

The liberal politician, Polish Prime Minister between 2007 and 2014, believes that “nothing can stop” the change in power he leads. However, the polls place the PO with 26% of the votes, compared to the 36% predicted for the PiS, the party of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Deputy Prime Minister and strongman of national politics, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and President Andrzej Duda.

Tusk represents the desire for reforms against the anti-asylum line and the continuous confrontation with the European Union (EU). For PiS, the opposition leader is a “servant of Brussels” or of Berlin, the dominant country at the community level, which did not defend Polish interests either while he was at the head of the European Council – from 2014 to 2019 -.

Morawiecki and Kaczynski repeat daily that Tusk left the national army decimated with his cuts, a line that contrasts with the investments made in Defense in recent years and accelerated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He The purpose of PiS is to increase the Defense allocation to 4% of GDP for next year and, in the medium term, expand the contingent from its current 172,000 soldiers to 300,000. Poland is a key player in the defense of NATO’s eastern flank, something that in the opinion of PiS Tusk ignored, in collusion with Germany or Brussels and for the benefit of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

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The PiS has dominated Polish politics for eight years, but according to polls they will need a partner to govern. This position could fall to the far-right Confederation, a party that occupied third position in the polls but that has recently lost steam and that advocates the total prohibition of abortion – a right that is currently already restricted to a minimum in Poland – or the frontal rejection to the reception of refugees.

The name “Million Hearts March” is intended to reflect exactly the opposite of these purposes of PiS or the hardest extreme right. LGTBI groups, feminists and defenders of freedom of expression see in Tusk the way to break the right-wing dynamic and systematic confrontation with Brussels marked by PiS.