“Your open letter, as well as a variety of actions [which are] hostile to Poland and strengthened by the position and actions of the President of Constitutional Tribunal [Andrzej Rzepliński], are considered by us to be an attempt to paralyse democracy in Poland,” the letter read.
“The real threat to the rule of law and democracy in Poland is you and your actions. The despicable words of your letter are a threat to democracy. It is you, pretending to be defenders of law and civil liberties, who are continuing down the road of destroying social peace and anti-democratic attempts to reverse the results of the last free elections.
“It is you, who, through your lies and muddling people’s minds to the applause of strangers, are escalating the conflict and division in society.
“You have chosen a path of conflict with a nation which gave the current Law and Justice [PiS] government the strongest mandate [to rule], more than you ever had in the 26-year history of the Third Republic,” the letter, signed by some of the founding members of the Solidarity trade union, said.
It went on: “Poland continues to be a reliable partner in the European Union and NATO, with or without you! No one destroyed the foundations of our security and economic development more than your governments.
Strong words
“Do you not see that it is not Poland, but you, who have become ‘people of special concern’, an ulcer and a cancer, acting as a parasite on the healthy body of the nation [… ] During your period in power, Poland grew internationally into the role of a beggar and a despised vassal of other countries."
PiS won the October 2015 general election with 37.58 percent of the ballot.
The open letter was a response to an earlier letter whose signatories claimed that Poland is heading towards authoritarianism, adding that society and opposition parties needed to mobilise and work out a common plan to defend democracy.
But that letter published Monday has been slammed by senior figures in the conservative PiS government as “absurd.”
The letter was signed by former presidents Lech Wałęsa, Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Bronisław Komorowski, by former foreign ministers including Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Radosław Sikorski, as well as by former communist-era oppositionists.
PM's response
Prime Minister Beata Szydło said: “Poles chose Law and Justice in parliamentary elections, they chose PiS’s programme and gave us responsibility for conducting Polish affairs. This was the free choice of Poles."
Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński told private broadcaster TVN24 that the language of the letter was “absurd.”
He added: “It is absurd to claim that democracy in Poland is under threat”. (rg/pk)