Tusk: for PiS "sovereignty" means control over people

Donald Tusk said at a rally in Gdańsk on Monday that he "has been struck with how easy, though not always visibly, the meaning of fundamental words is being changed". "Sovereignty used to mean greatness of a nation of free people, it used to mean independence from foreign powers. It was a conviction that we are a part of the Western culture, that Europe is our home just like Poland is our homeland," he said.

"Today, when those in power use the word 'sovereignty', they think how to control people. Today, the government thinks that sovereignty actually means stripping people of sovereignty, in order to gain 100-percent control over them, to take whatever they can and give back almost nothing," Tusk argued.

"Why do Jarosław Kaczyński and PiS so strongly insist that Poland move away from Europe and renounce the highest democratic standards so freshly achieved? Everything that the Polish people have been building for the last 30 years? - he asked.

"Why today's government is bothered with independent courts, why is it bothered with European treaties, which protect all that we've been praying and fighting for, for so many years? What is it that sticks in PiS's throat? - he asked. "Maybe it's because that their sovereignty is an attempt to create full independence from principles. They want to be sovereign over Polish courts, to get away with the evil and disgrace they do every day in Poland. This is the true reason for which they have defiled the word 'sovereignty'," said the Civic Platform leader.

"Why do they want to distance themselves from Europe? Why do they want to muzzle free media? Tomorrow they will try to effectively attack TVN. Why are they doing it? Because free media are there to watch (their) every move. Because the courts are there to impartially and fairly judge not only the citizens, but also the government for their wrongdoings. That's how they understand sovereignty: control over people," he added.