Opposition party ‘will not attack Polish PM in Brussels’
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
13.01.2016 11:16
The likely future leader of Poland’s opposition Civic Platform (PO) has said that MEPs from his party will not hit out at Prime Minister Beata Szydło in an upcoming European Parliament debate.
Grzegorz Schetyna (right) with PO MP Sławomir Neumann (left). Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Szydło has vowed that in the 19 January discussion she will defend her new conservative Law and Justice government, which has faced a slew of international criticism over controversial changes to the media and judiciary.
Grzegorz Schetyna, a key figure in PO and the head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told Polish Radio: “PO Euro MPs should be witnesses to the debate but should not take an active part in it.”
He added: “They won’t attack, but in terms of defending [Szydło] - that’s hard to imagine.”
Opposition figures in Poland have been vocal in criticism of changes introduced by the new Law and Justice government, claiming that recent laws it introduced on the media and judiciary have undermined democracy.
But opposition leaders on Tuesday put up a rare united front in the face of a barrage of recent criticism of Warsaw by German politicians.
Speaking after a meeting with the leaders of Poland’s opposition parliamentary clubs, Szydło said: “We agreed that the parliamentary clubs will demonstrate constructive cooperation.”
Schetyna, a former foreign minister, is the only candidate in a bid for the leadership of the centrist Civic Platform, which lost the 25 October general election to Law and Justice. (pk)