Tusk: PiS is consistent in straining relations between Poland and EU

Donald Tusk has returned to Polish politics and - being a formal deputy chief of the party - he took over as acting chairman of Civic Platform. On Friday, the former prime minister and former chief of the European Council gave his first TV interview after his return in TVN24's "Fakty po Faktach".

Tusk mentioned, among other things, the ongoing dispute between Poland and the EU regarding the functioning of the Supreme Court's Disciplinary Chamber and the latest ruling by the CJEU. He said that the EU "has no ready answers, as such things are unprecedented". "The European Union deals with such situation practically for the first time. There have been plenty of smaller feuds, but here we're dealing with PiS consistently straining relations between Poland and the European Union and its institutions," he said.

In his opinion "this is very political in nature". "It's meant to weaken the European Union, to weaken mutual ties, to undermine the authority of the institution, and it may finally result in Poland leaving the EU, and definitely in weaker EU," Tusk argued.

He added that "Poland is not alone in this, we also have (Viktor) Orban's Hungary, there's no shortage of tensions". "If there are more countries persistent in harming their own European Union, it might mean the end of this organisation," said the former prime minister.

According to Tusk, those who rule Poland and Hungary "be it deliberately or by accident, go hand in hand with the Kremlin, which makes no bones about weaker EU as its strategic goal".

He pointed out that despite so many scandals during the six years in power, PiS enjoyed a rather high support. "This means that the PiS-orchestrated propaganda has in fact influenced many Poles. The problem is that this propaganda has nothing to do with the truth".

Tusk underscored that " as long as there is democratic opposition, there is a chance that our country will not become fully authoritarian". "I think that, by now, no one should have any doubts that this is PiS's intention," he said.