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Striving for countryside's equality: PM

PR dla Zagranicy
Michał Owczarek 07.04.2019 15:50
Poland’s ruling party wants equality in the EU as well as in domestic living standards.
PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński (C) and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (R). Photo: PAP/Tomasz WaszczukPiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński (C) and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (R). Photo: PAP/Tomasz Waszczuk

A coalition of Polish opposition parties on Saturday warned that the conservative ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) may lead the country out of the European Union. Launching the grouping’s campaign for May's European elections Grzegorz Schetyna, leader of the liberal Civic Platform (PO), the largest of five opposition parties in the European Coalition, said: “Either (we have) a strong, prosperous, democratic Poland in a strong Europe or what we have today - a party state - on the way to leaving the European Union.” Speaking to a convention in Warsaw at the start of the campaign ahead of the European vote to be held May 26 in Poland, Schetyna stressed that this year’s elections will decide what Poles really want: “either a Poland that is one of the leaders of the West, or a Poland drifting to the East."
Poles are overwhelmingly euro-enthusiastic, with nearly 90 % backing membership of the bloc, according to the latest Eurobarometer survey. This is much higher than the EU average of 62%.
Although PiS has never officially called for Poland to leave the bloc, it has been pushing for a more decentralised bloc. The party has been at loggerheads with the EU over a swathe of controversial judicial reforms that Brussels sees as a threat to judicial independence, the rule of law and ultimately to democracy.
In an electoral marathon Poles, on top of May’s European election, will chose the new parliament this autumn and - in the spring of next year - the president.
An IBRIS poll published Friday put the PiS ahead with 39 percent compared to 36.5 percent support for the European Coalition.

Speaking at a Law and Justice (PiS) congress in the central-northern village of Kadzidło, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his party advocates equality among EU member states and seeks equality between the Polish countryside and Polish cities.

To attain this goal, Poland must be governed "by someone who cares about the Polish countryside," Morawiecki said on Saturday, referring to the PiS party which has been in power since 2015. He also promised more efforts to secure larger EU funds for Polish rural areas.

Speaking to the congress, PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, also called for electoral support his party would use to ”fight and strive in the EU for the interests of the Polish countryside in a decisive manner.”

Kaczyński went on to praise Poland’s agricultural potential by saying that “small and medium farmsteads may produce wholesome food in a natural way that Poland and Europe of today need.”

Since the beginning of March the PiS has been organising regional party conventions every Saturday ahead of the European Parliament elections.

(mo)

Source: IAR, PAP

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