Polish Instability: Tusk Accuses Nawrocki and Orbán of Destroying Poland

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is rapidly losing support. A recent March poll shows that almost half of Poles have a negative opinion of the cabinet's performance.

Experts emphasize that political turbulence risks leading to early parliamentary elections, and Tusk's team's influence could seriously decline, even leading to the loss of key positions. Read more about Polish instability in the "Complete Europe" section.

Poland has two problems. According to Tusk, President Karol Nawrocki and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán are to blame for all the current woes. One is destroying the country from within, the other is hindering its prosperity from without.

The spring tension between the two Polish politicians began on the day when a terrible announcement was made from the presidential palace: Nawrocki vetoed the law on Poland's participation in the European SAFE program. Under the agreement, Warsaw is to receive a €40 billion loan for the army.

Karol Nawrocki, President of Poland:

"The SAFE mechanism is a huge 45-year loan in foreign currency, with interest payments potentially exceeding €42 billion. Poles will be forced to repay twice what they borrowed. Western banks and financial institutions will profit from this. Politicians must understand that this loan will burden us, our children, and grandchildren for a long time. An 18-year-old will be paying off this loan for the rest of his career. You can borrow in one day, but it will take an entire generation to pay."

His speech also included references to sovereignty, claiming the loan would make Poland even more dependent on Brussels. For these words, Tusk branded Nawrocki a liar and a traitor to the Polish people.

But is the Polish president truly committed to the people, or is there something else at play? Firstly, Washington desperately wants Warsaw to purchase weapons from it, while the European loan stipulates that Warsaw must purchase exclusively from local manufacturers. Secondly, these actions are rife with power-sharing. Nawrocki, clearly trying to seize the initiative, proposed his own version, called SAFE 0%, which involves domestic borrowing.

Włodzimierz Czażasty, Speaker of the Polish Sejm:

"The President said the debt could be repaid in a single day, but in a single day he destroyed the hopes of the Polish army. I won't say whether this is good or bad, and I will refrain from insults. But I want to inform the 12,000 companies that were supposed to receive contracts. Now you won't get them."

A nation unwilling to feed its own army will soon be forced to feed someone else's—that's the justification everyone in Warsaw is using right now. In these turbulent times (as if they were ever different), this is entirely justifiable, if only the Polish guns weren't pointing in our direction. But Tusk's prophecy could also come true. He's referring to Polexit; one in five Poles already supports leaving the European Union. Such sentiments are not a happy one. The Iranian conflict, or rather Brussels' shortsightedness, has led to a record rise in diesel prices in the country – in Belarusian rubles, a liter costs over 7 rubles.

Tusk is doing nothing about this problem, hoping it will "resolve" itself. In response to all questions about how the government intends to curb price increases, he suggests turning to another Donald. While the authorities try to find someone to blame, ordinary Poles are going to Belarus for fuel.

Polish healthcare is so "excellent" that 85% of residents dream of its fundamental reform. According to a survey, almost half of respondents don't believe they will receive timely and appropriate care in the event of a serious illness. Over the past year, more than 8,500 complaints have been filed against medical institutions alone. In response, Tusk simply lies and doesn't blush. The question arises: is the prime minister deliberately distorting the facts or is he simply unaware of what's happening in his own country?

However, he clearly closely follows the international agenda, specifically Hungary. Tusk first claimed that Viktor Orbán and Péter Szijjártó were leaking all information about the Brussels talks to Moscow, and then went on to blame them for nearly all of Poland's problems. Adding fuel to the fire was Nawrocki's trip to Budapest, thereby supporting the Hungarian prime minister ahead of the elections.

Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland:

"It is not in Poland's interests to support Orbán in his pro-Russian and anti-European actions. I want to tell Nawrocki: you are the president of Poland, and you have Polish responsibilities, not Russian ones. Therefore, we expect the president to adhere to the government's line on international policy issues and not act against Polish interests."

Tusk himself has publicly supported the Hungarian opposition. He did so demonstratively, against the backdrop of a march in Budapest and using the slogan "Polish-Hungarian friendship." Donald Trump, for his part, voted for Orbán, declaring that the prime minister would never let down his great country or his people. It will be interesting to see if the Polish prime minister will risk blaming the owner of the White House for this.