Party politics: what’s going on in Poland?
The Polish government has been roundly criticised for its stance on a number of EU issues recently – the veto of the EU-Russia Treaty for example. I had perhaps naively assumed that the problems stemmed largely from the positions of the Law & Justice Party that is currently predominant in Warsaw, or at least those on the right of Polish politics.
However, while sat here at the PES Activists’ introductory meeting earlier on, it became clear that the euroscepticism is more all-pervasive in and systematised in Polish politics. It is currently impossible for any non-Polish citizen to join any Polish political party – it is prohibited by law! This is absolutely ludicrous. I wonder whether this is in any way contrary to European law? Or have parties been so scared about European integration that party politics has somehow managed to escape the rules that apply to everything else? Can someone enlighten me in the comments? Perhaps the PES should work to do something to right these sorts of anomalies.
Image © European Commission Audiovisual Library
Yes it is most probably is contrary to EU law although there is nothing as such in the treaty directly on the question. But it follows from a combination of EU citizenship, the right to non discrimination on grounds of nationality, the effects of the ECHR and other fundamental rights guarantees, and the impact of elections to the European Parliament. See the sizeable PDF file here: http://cridho.cpdr.ucl.ac.be/AVIS%20CFR-CDF/Avis2005/CFR-CDFopinion.1_2005_en.pdf. Poland is not the only Member State in this situation.