Only the Poles decide, says Weber amid claims of election meddling

Only Poles can determine the future of their country in the upcoming October elections, said the leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, after Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party accused him of trying to influence people’s choices illegally.

In an interview for FAZ in June, Weber ruled out any cooperation between the EPP and the PiS, citing the need to build a “firewall” against the party and describing the EPP as the only force capable of defeating the PiS in Poland’s national elections.

His remarks sparked outrage within the Polish ruling camp, with PiS leaders, including Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, accusing the EPP and Weber of trying to interfere in Polish elections and illegally influence people’s choices.

Weber has now rejected the accusation. “I am a friend of Poland, and the European People’s Party is a friend of Poland,” he told Euracitv.pl.

But while he said only Poles could decide Poland’s future in the elections, he was reluctant to comment on the ongoing election campaign, saying only that it was “very tough”.

Weber learnt a lesson from the criticism he faced after his interview, PiS MEP Zdzisław Krasnodębski told Euracitv. pl, commenting on the EPP leader’s new statement.

It is a “fundamental pillar of European policy” that a country’s citizens decide their future at the ballot box, he added.

According to Krasnodębski, Weber’s words may be a part of his efforts to build a wider right-wing coalition in the EU.

“As Weber is constantly attacked, he tried to make some division, draw a red line, hence his statements about Poland,” he said.

The PiS MEP admitted that the EPP and the ECR, PiS’s EU affiliate, have similar views on many issues.

“On the Green Deal, we (the ECR) were much more critical, but we cooperate on other issues,” he said, adding that cooperation was “even closer than that between the EPP and Socialists.”

(Sonia Otfinowska, Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)