Posted on 04/20/2002 10:50:00 PM PDT by malarski
Polish protests may take the gloss off EU expansion plan
Financial Times; Apr 16, 2002
By JOHN REED
Poland was always expected to be the trail-blazer for former eastern bloc economies joining the European Union. But the government of the largest applicant nation is about to launch a campaign to rally support for EU membership, after running into well-organised opposition.
An articulate anti-EU movement is in full swing around the depressed rural and industrial areas Poles call " Poland B". If it builds on public discontent with economic reforms, it could bring down the governing coalition and tarnish the project to enlarge the EU to the east.
In a packed church hall in the grimy south-western coal-mining town of Walbrzych, leaders of the opposition League of Polish Families (LPR) railed against Poland's faltering economy, its inadequate justice system and its vast trade deficit with the EU. Roman Giertych, a member of parliament with the anti-EU party, closed with an impassioned appeal for a No vote in a referendum on EU membership planned for next year.
"They are taking away our land, our farming, our industry, our trade," he said to angry whoops and applause from a crowd split between people over 50, mostly women, and very young men. "What will we be left with? We will be tenants on our own land."
With 8 per cent of seats in Poland's lower house and its popularity climbing, the LPR is not a fringe phenomenon. Formed last year with the support of Radio Maryja, an extreme-right Catholic broadcaster, the party's leaders have launched a campaign to build support for next October's local elections as a prelude to a No victory.
Self-Defence, Poland's biggest Eurosceptic party, is also planning a "counter-campaign" to run in parallel with the government's next month. Using leaflets, advertisements, and a new newspaper, the radical peasants' group will target rural areas, where opposition to EU membership is highest. "We want to present the truth to farmers, and not only them," says Jozef Cepil, a Self-Defence MP.
The referendum has become a life-and-death matter for the leftwing government of prime minister Leszek Miller, who says he will resign if the No camp wins. Opinion polls point to a Yes vote, with 55 per cent of Poles - and 67 per cent of those who say they will vote - supporting membership.
But with the economy in a quagmire, the government's popularity plummeting and difficult negotiations ahead, few Poles take the outcome for granted. EU supporters say Mr Miller's team must hurry to make up for lost time and win over sceptical or undecided voters.
The job of selling the EU to Poles falls to Slawomir Wiatr, a former communist apparatchik with marketing and business experience. The campaign begins on May 9, aiming to reach deep into " Poland B," Mr Wiatr says, using TV and radio spots alongside unconventional distribution channels such as post offices and brochures resembling colour magazines. "We aren't aiming at the intellectual elites, but people who don't read newspapers or newsweeklies, and who switch to a sitcom or a reality show when an information programme comes on TV," he says.
But critics of the effort fault the government for failing to build an alliance with non-governmental organisations and other parties. Support for accession is patchy even in officially pro-EU parties such as the conservative Law and Justice or the Polish Peasants' Party, in coalition with Mr Miller's SLD.
Some also criticise Mr Miller, who describes the EU in terms of "civilisational progress", for using bloodless rhetoric. The words pale against those of the LPR and other EU opponents, who have seized the agenda by hammering on emotive issues such as land purchases by foreigners after membership. "The pro-EU forces are being forced to fight on terrain chosen by the anti-EU forces," says Marek Saryusz-Wolski, editor of Poland's leading magazine on EU affairs.
The SLD's strategy of linking its survival to the referendum is also seen as risky. Support for the EU correlates to an extent with support for the coalition, analysts say, and economic discontent could also feed a No vote. "It may be that people unhappy with the SLD will feel compelled to vote against Europe," says Mr Kucharczyk.
The town of Walbrzych, with 37 per cent unemployment - more than double the national average - will doubtless prove a difficult target. The LPR meeting weaves opposition to the EU into a general message of discontent with Poland's high unemployment and official corruption, and thinly coded anti-Semitic swipes at public figures.
Closing on a historical note, a popular rhetorical tactic in Poland, Mr Giertych likens the anti-EU movement to Polish military victories over the Swedes, the Teutonic Knights, the Turks and the Soviets. "In key moments of history, we were always able to mobilise," he says. "Now is the time to mobilise for the battle of Poland - because the future of our nation depends on it."
He's right.
Members of the former Commie Party, Clinton wannabes in their Armani suits now running the government, will sell-out Poland for a quick buck.
As for common sense at least the right wing parties and conservatives do not want to join the EU. It only proves my point, that the lefties (a la Tony Blair) including plenty of unreformed communists lack common sense.
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