Polish democracy is under attack from Brussels amid a risk of the European Union interfering in Poland’s upcoming presidential election, incumbent President Andrzej Duda has warned.
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| Image Credit: Michael M. Santiago / Staff / Getty |
In a candid interview on the Kanał Zero YouTube channel, Duda expressed strong concerns about the European Union’s influence on national elections and internal politics, suggesting that democratic processes in Poland may be swayed by Brussels’ approval as recently seen in Romania.
Duda questioned whether democratic elections can still be genuinely free if only candidates favored by the EU are able to win. “Is it so that today elections in individual countries — democratic ones, it would seem — can only be won by those who are accepted in Brussels? I have such an impression, and I don’t like it very much,” he remarked, expressing skepticism over the European Commission’s involvement in both Polish and Romanian affairs.
🇩🇪🇪🇺Thierry Breton's statement on canceling Germany's elections translated to English.
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) January 13, 2025
Breton said if the EU Commission decides that the election in Germany was subject to "foreign interference," they would annul the election as they did in Romania's presidential election pic.twitter.com/3433nU8ya9
The president also noted the recent concerns submitted by Bogdan Święczkowski, president of the Constitutional Tribunal, who alleged that senior government officials — including Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Sejm and Senate marshals, and certain judges and prosecutors — may have committed a coup.
While Duda admitted he had not personally reviewed the document, he acknowledged ongoing “repetitive, glaring violations of the law” by current government figures. He pointed to cases where the government refused to recognize decisions by the Constitutional Tribunal or failed to publish its rulings, labeling these actions “tragicomic.”
The Polish president specifically criticized the government’s treatment of Dariusz Barski, the national prosecutor, who has been prevented from fulfilling his duties in favor of a government-appointed prosecutor. Duda condemned this as a gross violation of the rule of law and a further example of the left-wing government’s attempts to erode judicial independence in Poland.
Drawing a parallel with recent events in Romania, where the Constitutional Tribunal annulled the first round of presidential elections won by right-wing Eurosceptic and NATO-critic Calin Georgescu, citing unproven Russian interference, Duda suggested that similar events could unfold in Poland.
He expressed unease over reports that prominent European Commission members admitted to influencing the Romanian elections, warning that “you will have to defend the results of elections in Poland if it turns out that someone intends to manipulate these results.”
Duda hinted at the possibility of public demonstrations to protect electoral integrity, suggesting that Poles may need to exercise their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly if they perceive any threats to democratic processes. “Maybe you’ll just have to demonstrate?” he said, warning that similar situations are unfolding across Europe and could destabilize democratic institutions.
Throughout the interview, Duda reiterated his belief in the primacy of the Polish Constitution over EU regulations, arguing that national sovereignty must be respected. He criticized the EU’s suspension of funds from the National Recovery Plan (KPO), claiming it was a punitive measure against the previous Polish government due to political differences with European Commission members.
“Blocking money because the government did not align with Brussels was obvious,” he said.
Duda concluded by warning of a “real threat to democracy” across Europe, suggesting Romania is a cautionary tale. He urged vigilance to protect Poland’s democratic integrity and legal order from both internal and external pressures.
The Polish president’s warning comes a week after the publication of the first polling which shows the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) candidate in May’s presidential election, Karol Nawrocki, leading against his left-wing Civic Coalition (KO) opponent, Rafal Trzaskowski.
The poll, conducted by the National Research Group, shows that in the first round of elections, the current mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, would come out on top with 35.51 percent of the votes, while Nawrocki would earn 31.73 percent.
However, the vote would then move to a second round if nobody wins outright, which would pit Nawrocki against Trzaskowski. In such a scenario, the pollster indicated Nawrocki would eke out a victory with 50.6 percent of the vote versus 49.4 percent for Trzaskowski.
