Poland in the EU

For Declan Ganley having Lech Wałęsa at his Rome rally was a dream come true. President Wałęsa, on the other hand, has come under strong fire in Poland for it, even being called an agent of the Kremlin.

As I was away for the weekend events took place which I cannot help but comment. Former president Lech Wałęsa, the leader of the Polish "Solidarity" movement which toppled communism, took part in the Libertas rally in Rome.

I am not at all surprised Declan Ganley, the Irish leader of Libertas invited him. As early as June 2008, when I was travelling with Mr. Ganley on his campaign trail before the referendum in Ireland, he told me how much he admired the former anticommunist opposition leaders, and that meeting Wałęsa was his personal dream. He said he learned from these people that nothing is impossible.

As I hear, his dream of meeting Wałęsa came true already in the beginning of the year, during one of Ganley's visits to Poland. Then he took it one step further and managed to have Wałęsa speak in Rome.

The former Polish president is full of surprises, so this was yet another one. His link with Ganley was not completely out of character. Wałęsa is currently involved in European issues, being one of the "wise men" reflecting on the future of the EU under the leadership of Felipe Gonzales. Also there it's obvious that he does not exactly fit in, and would gladly shake the EU a bit to make it move faster, and in some new directions.

In Poland he has come under big fire for going to Rome. A well known commentator even said he is acting as an agent of the Kremlin (the logic being that anything that weakens the EU makes Russia happy).

Wałęsa has since explained in interviews that: * he still supports the governing Civic Platform for the European Parliament election; * but he would like a few Libertas MEP to be present in the Parliament, to cause debate and be a creative kind of opposition, within the institution and not outside; * he also said he got paid for speaking in Rome, but did not want to say how much.

I have to say the points Libertas and Mr. Wałęsa are bringing up about the EU are not unfounded, and certainly deserve a hearing if the form of some MEPs. The only trouble is, if we don't have the rather moderate reforms provided in the Lisbon Treaty, we will have none at all. Which is certainly not a better choice.

Also, as I have said more than once before, Mr. Ganley has allied himself in Poland with rather unsound characters, people who are not a constructive opposition in the EU, not to mention their views on other issues. This is one of the main reasons why Mr. Wałęsa's move was so controversial.

This is also why in my opinion his link with Libertas will not influence Polish voters on June 7. Wałęsa is well respected in Poland, a real living historical figure, but he plays almost no role in current Polish politics. For those who don't follow Polish politics: he ran again for president in 2000 and got... 1% of the votes. Although with more hindsight Poles judge him more and more favourably, I don't think he can influence the Polish vote. Especially since it won't be him but those right wing nuts on the ballot papers.