Poland facing 1989 all over again, need to restore democracy paramount: Deputy finance minister

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) - Poland today is facing a situation similar to 1989 and the most pressing need at the moment is to revitalize democracy in the country, according to Deputy Finance Minister Pawel Karbownik.

The need right now is as much about “immediate policies … as it is about the bigger picture,” Karbownik said in an interview with Anadolu.

“This is 1989 all over again,” he said, referring to the year in which Poland emerged from over 40 years of communist rule, holding semi-free elections that ushered in a government led by Solidarity, the independent trade union that spearheaded a mass opposition movement.

“And the need to restore democracy is paramount, as it was then,” he said.

From 2015 until elections last October, Poland was ruled by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which was widely accused of undermining the democratic norms and institutions built up in the country after 1989.

In October, a coalition led by former top EU figure Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) party won parliamentary elections, paving the way for Tusk to take office as prime minister in December.

Tusk and his coalition government have since embarked on a campaign of undoing what they claim were undemocratic steps by PiS, including politicizing state-owned media and the judiciary.

“What we have inherited after eight years of PiS is a state … which was transitioning from democracy to semi-autocracy,” said Karbownik.

“The judicial system with institutions and judges who have been appointed against the rules. State media that broke the law by serving hate, nationalism and anti-European propaganda, which divided society.”

In Karbownik’s view, the PiS never expected to lose the October elections.

“It was a classic hubris. They believed too much in their own propaganda and were unprepared for defeat,” he said.

Soon after taking office, Tusk sacked heads of public media and withdrew its funding, while also conveying his intent – through a draft resolution – of going after judges appointed by the previous government.

That has put the government in a battle with President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the former PiS government who will stay in office until 2025.

In a letter to the head of the Sejm, the lower house of Poland’s Parliament, Duda said he will oppose any attempt to undermine the “status of judges appointed by the president,” stressing that “appointing judges is the prerogative of the president.”

“We were one of the first countries into this populist trap and we are the first out, so we are in uncharted waters. But we have repelled the first wave of right-wing populism in Europe,” said Karbownik.

“It is a unique situation that needs to be analyzed and acted upon, given that populists may still threaten the European project. This is as much about immediate policies, like proper migration policy or green transition, as it is about the bigger picture,” he added.

With Tusk at the helm, Karbownik said Poland is in “very, very good hands.”

“Donald Tusk, when in Brussels, dealt with the Greek debt crisis, Brexit and (ex-US President Donald) Trump, so he knows a thing or two about negotiating and keeping coalitions together,” he said.

“The main task ahead is the re-establishment of the community, which is vital for the proper functioning of a country. After eight dark years, we are finally on the right track.”