German Patience Could Help Bring Poland Round

Politicians from Poland's governing coalition have fallen back on the typical anti-German tropes to justify the veto.

"The German proposal (including rule-of-law conditionality) is nothing more than an attempt to radically limit the sovereignty of Poland and Hungary, as well as of other countries that might in the future have the courage to show independence from the main centre of power in Brussels," United Poland, one of three parties in Poland's governing coalition, wrote in a statement.

United Poland is led by hardline Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is considered to be one of the main drivers behind the tough stance of the Polish government. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, despite personally not supporting a veto, is believed to be going along with Ziobro's tough stance because he has been ordered to by the PiS leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who sees it as a way to keep the governing coalition together.

"Germany can't lecture us about the rule of law. Germany hasn't paid even 1 euro for its previous lessons on the rule of law in Poland," PiS MEP Patryk Jaki said, referring to reparations that his party argues Germany owes Poland for the Nazi occupation.

"We're on the right side of history, and those who want to take away our sovereignty based on their own whims are headed for a fall," Kaczynski declared.

Thus, the Polish government is depicting the veto as a fight for sovereignty, in the context of a colonialist Western Europe - led by Germany - which is trying to impose its values on the weaker member states in the east. This image is consistent with one of the main rhetorical lines of PiS, which has helped the party win and maintain power: that they are the only ones who can defend the interests of the "regular Pole"...