Jarosław Kaczyński spoke in Krakow in the Sokół hall. The President of Law and Justice spoke about the problem posed by the changes to European treaties.

Today we are facing a special situation, different from that of one or two years ago. At the time, I was talking about the past. About how we regained independence, which was the most important element of what had been achieved, that is, the building of a vast, important Polish state. Today, I must say with pain that it is necessary to talk about other things

— he stated.

Our opponents, even today, have denied and claimed that there will be no changes to the European treaties. (…) Well, it is quite the opposite. Just as it was after the defeat of the plan to create a so-called European constitution. (…) As was the case before the Lisbon Treaty, and this time too, the creators of this project are invoking the necessity of enlarging the Union. (…) This is all a lie. Increasing the number of states, as the last few years have shown, and the Ukrainian war, is no obstacle at all

— he said.

What happened

It started with a conference on the Future of Europe. It was 2021 and there were 800 people from various EU countries. (…) A complete set-up, having nothing to do with a genuine representation of the citizens of the European Union. Some directives, lines of action were prepared there. The serious thing started with the work of the European Parliament’s Constitutional Committee. It developed a concrete plan and this was voted through. This plan is to be adopted by the EP on 22 November. After that, there is still to be a meeting of the General Affairs European Council.

After that, this Council will refer the matter to the European Council, which is where we have representatives, the highest representatives of the states. Poland is represented by Prime Minister Morawiecki. There, there will be no unanimity rule, the matter is to be referred to the so-called Convention - these are representatives of individual European states. Then it is to be referred to the so-called international conference. The unanimity rule will apply there.

• Jarosław Kaczyński explained.

Proposed changes to the Treaties

What do the proposed changes involve? This is a total of 267 changes to the two treaties. So it is not a new treaty, but very far-reaching changes. The report to be adopted by the European Parliament consists of 42 articles and an annex where the rest of these changes can be found. The report, as well as all that is going on in this matter is a kind of abuse, not to call it a fraud

— said the Law and Justice president.

There was obvious malpractice in the committee’s work. It was first understood that it would proceed unanimously. (…) Then the ECR, the group we are part of, was excluded. This was unanimity, but minus one. Against the protests of our representative, this type of proposal was adopted. There are two basic elements. The first is the virtually complete abolition of unanimous voting, that is, the right of veto. The abolition of this foundation, which created a situation in which EU states, although surrendering many powers to the Union, still remained sovereign states

This is a change of an entirely fundamental nature. (…) It relates to the status of states, members of the European Union. It applies, of course, in a highly unequal way. Instead of unanimous voting, there are three new different forms of voting which are relatively similar to each other. And it is fair to say that in 99 per cent of cases Germany and France will be able to obtain a majority. Because it is always about 50 percent of the population and a majority of the states. Anyone who is familiar with the practices of the EU and knows how much population Germany and France have, and how much the Union as a whole has, is aware that without any trouble at all, these two countries and even Germany alone are able to obtain such a majority. That is the essence of it. This is the essence of the hegemony that is being built in this way

— Jarosław Kaczyński said.

If this treaty enters into force, Poland will no longer be an independent, sovereign country and will not be a state at all

— said the Law and Justice leader.

This will backfire for everyone. And Poles must realise this, they must become aware of it. (…) The acceleration of this process is due to the fact that the two countries that are mainly interested in this project are now getting weaker. Germany is weakening and France is weakening. This is how they want to save themselves. They want to use us as their stilts. We cannot agree to this

— he argued.

As far as Civic Platform is concerned, I think no one doubts that it is indeed a German party

— Jarosław Kaczyński said.

Tłum. K.J.