Poland-bashing is undoubtedly among the European Parliament’s favorite preoccupations. Over the last years, this chamber has passed about 40 resolutions criticizing the Polish government. The most recent was particularly pernicious. It demanded that the EU punish Poland financially for the government’s alleged encroachment against the rule of law. The parliament called for what its vice president, German MEP Katarina Barley, had once approvingly referred to as starving Poland financially (finanziell aushungern). The resolution was all the more disgraceful in that the call for Aushungerung came at the moment when 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have come to Poland and more are still expected.
This rather odd action has two mutually exclusive explanations: Either the European institutions are obsessed with Poland and overpowered by the spirit of vindictiveness towards the Polish government; or the Polish government has been seriously and shamelessly violating the rule of law, which required a swift and decisive action on the part of the European institutions. I would argue that the first is true; the second — false.
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