Poland's president said on Monday he would sign a bill to allow a panel to investigate whether the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party allowed the country to be unduly influenced by Russia and as a result too dependent on its fuel when it was in power.
The liberal PO, in government from 2007 to 2015, rejects the claims and says the law is designed to destroy support for its leader and former prime minister Donald Tusk ahead of elections scheduled for October or November.
President Andrzej Duda said he would sign the bill because he believed it "should enter into force," but he also said he would ask the Constitutional Tribunal to examine the criticism it is unconstitutional.
The bill would set up an investigative commission that could deliver an initial report in September. Opposition figures have nicknamed it Lex Tusk, using the Latin word for law.
"In a normal democratic country, somebody who is president of that country would never sign such a Stalin-esque law," PO lawmaker Marcin Kierwiński told TVN24.
The parliamentary commission will investigate the period 2007-2022 and will have the power to ban people found to have acted under Russian influence from holding security clearance or working in roles in which they would responsible for public funds for 10 years, effectively disqualifying them from public office.
Poland's dependence on Russian fuel has progressively declined, even before Russia's war on Ukraine began in February last year.
The construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, allowing the import of non-Russia gas, started when Tusk was in power.
Also during Tusk's time in office, Poland signed a deal with Russia's Gazprom in 2010, which the official justification of the bill mentions.
Top state-controlled refiner PKN Orlen PKN.WA last month said it had terminated its contract with Russia's Tatneft after supplies were halted in February but it still uses Russian fuel in its Czech refineries.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters