Poland’s post election foreign policy – a turning point? Krzysztof Bobiñski Poland’s autumn election followed the Poland. The election was fought on the collapse of the coalition between the government’s record in combating corruption majority Law and Justice Party (PiS) and and saw a big mobilisation of voters on the Samoobrona Party and the League of both sides of the political spectrum Polish Families (LPR) two years before the around this issue. High economic growth end of the parliament’s four year term. and declining unemployment during its The resignation of the government came entire term helped to buoy PiS’s support in the wake of accusations and counter in the election. Ultimately, however, the accusations between the coalition partners contest1 was decided by an unprecedented of corruption and unconstitutional turnout of young people who voted to behaviour. The short election campaign reject the government’s traditionalist saw, in essence, a continuation of little domestic policies and inherent suspicion more than the robust polemics between of the outside world. PiS and the Civic Platform (PO), the main opposition party during the government’s The result of the election saw PO win the two years in office. The PiS-led greatest number of seats in the Sejm and government’s foreign policy played Senate, the two parliamentary chambers. a small part in the campaign and what Subsequently it established a governing debate there was between the main coalition with the Polish People’s Party contenders failed to reflect the electorate’s (PSL). The government brought in a new concerns on Poland’s continued involvement foreign minister, Rados³aw Sikorski, to in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as plans to replace Anna Fotyga, who is likely to move site a US missile defence base in northern to the President’s office. This presages 1 The parliamentary election was held on 21 October 2007 with an electorate of 30.3 million people and a turnout of 53.8 per cent. Four parties surmounted the 5 per cent threshold needed to enter parliament. 6.7 million people or 41.5 per cent voted for the pro business Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska – PO) giving the party 209 seats in the 460 seat Sejm, the lower chamber. The traditionalist Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwoœæ – PiS) won 166 seats with 5.2 million voters or a 32.1 per cent share of the ballot. The Left and the Democrats, an alliance of post communists and the dissident based Demokraci.pl (Lewica i Demokraci – LiD) came third with 2.1 million voters or a 13.2 per cent share of the turnout gaining 53 seats. The farm based Polish People’s Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe – PSL) came last with 1.4 million votes or an 8.9 per cent share of the ballot and 31 seats. The populist Samoobrona failed to surmount the 5 per cent barrier with a 1.5 per cent share of the ballot or 247.3 thousand voters. The right wing, nationalist League of Polish Families (Liga Polskich Rodzin – LPR), also present, like Samoobrona, in the previous parliament, failed to get into the Sejm with a 1.3 per cent share of the ballot or 209.1 thousand voters. PO won the election to the 100-seat Senate winning 60 seats with PiS coming second with 39 seats and the one remaining seat going to W³odzimierz Cimoszewicz, a former prime minister and foreign minister associated with the post communist left. Elections to the Sejm are held on a proportional basis under the D’Hondt system while the Senate is elected on a first past the post system. 2 Krzysztof Bobiñski a duality in Polish foreign policy which membership, to the presence of Polish will make it difficult for the authorities to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the present a coherent face to the outside location of a US missile defence installation world. It will also bring differences on in northern Poland and to attitudes to foreign policy issues into the domestic Poland’s largest neighbours, Germany political debate, for while PiS lost the and Russia. All of these were the subject of October election, the president, Lech polls in the months before the October Kaczynski 2, still has three years of his term election, as was a general study of the to run. There is every indication that his government’s record3, which included approach to PO will be similar to that of a specific question on foreign policy. This his twin brother Jaros³aw, the head of PiS, showed a measure of unease about the who adopted a combatative stance towards government’s record in this field. Thus the PO in the wake of the election. Jerzy Buzek, a right of centre premier, saw 68 per cent giving him a good or adequate The PiS government made a great deal of mark in this field in 2001; Marek Belka, the the fact that its foreign policy differed centre left prime minister, saw 61 per cent greatly from that of its predecessors in that backing him in these categories while it was more assertive towards the EU as Jaros³aw Kaczyñski finished at a lower well as to both Germany and Russia. 50 per cent. Respectively, the three leaders However, in some respects there was saw 17 per cent, 15 per cent and 38 per cent a greater measure of continuity with saying that their foreign policy had been previous administrations than initially ‘inadequate’. While this result showed met the eye. The question facing the that public opinion as a whole was current study is to what extent Poland’s concerned at PiS’s performance in foreign foreign policy will change with the new policy, the foreign policy elites 4 were still government – in the light of public more so, finding little to praise in the attitudes and the election campaign. policies followed by Anna Fotyga after she became foreign minister in May 2006. The Opinion Polls The pre election studies showed public Foreign policy, as such, is not the regular opinion deeply at variance with PiS subject of polls in Poland. Individual foreign government policy on both the European policy issues, however, are polled Union and participation in military systematically by CBOS, a publicly funded expeditions abroad as well as the United research organisation. These include States’ missile defence plans. A survey popular attitudes to European Union conducted in May 2007 5 on attitudes to the 2 Poland’s 1997 constitution says that the President is the commander in chief of the armed forces and acts as the representative of the state in foreign policy with responsibility for ratifying international treaties, appointing Polish ambassadors and accrediting foreign ambassadors in Poland. However, it is the government that conducts foreign policy. In 2005-2007, under the PiS government, Jaros³aw Kaczynski, the President’s twin brother, left responsibility for foreign policy, to a great extent, to the president. It was he who generally travelled to EU summits, for example. 3 CBOS, ”Szczegó³owe oceny dzia³alnoœci rz¹du”, September 2007, BS/145/2007. 4 See ”G³ówne Wyzwania Polskiej Polityki Zagranicznej, Doœwiadczenie i Przysz³oœæ” working paper, Warsaw autumn 2007. 5 CBOS, ”O modelu integracji europejskiej i eurokonstytucji”, June 2007, BS/99/2007. Poland’s post election foreign policy – a turning point? 3 European Union showed 89 per cent of involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Poles supporting Polish membership of Poland currently has detachments of the EU and a mere 5 per cent against. This around 1,000 troops to both countries compares to 70 per cent for EU membership fighting the war against terrorism. in August 2004 (21 per cent against), just Popular support for the deployment in after Polish accession, and 73 per cent in Iraq 7 reached 36 per cent in July 2003 and favour (16 per cent against) in September peaked at 42 per cent in January 2004 2005 when PiS won the parliamentary falling to 16 per cent in October 2007. election. This means that support for the A similar pattern emerges on Afghanistan, EU actually grew in Poland despite the a NATO rather than US-led operation, country being governed by the most with support peaking at 57 per cent in eurosceptic administration since 1989. April of 2002 (when the Polish contingent This included the nationalist League of was planned at a mere 300 personnel) and Polish Families (LPR), which was openly falling to 19 per cent in October 2007 hostile to the EU and Samoobrona, which (opposition reached 77 per cent in this demonstrated its diffidence about European poll). All this time government policy integration during successive election failed to change and neither did criticism campaigns. The growth in support is of the war by both the LPR and mainly to be explained by a change in Samoobrona (muted when both were in stance by Poland’s farmers after they the government coalition with PiS) make began to receive subsidies under the any impact on the government stance. Common Agricultural Policy. In a similar vein, public support for the It is also true that even though PiS planned US missile defence installation in demonstrated its unhappiness about northern Poland fell as debate on the issue the EU and engaged in successive mounted. In December 2005, half of the confrontations with Brussels – support in population supported the plans, but that the towns for the EU remained extremely figure fell to 28 per cent by July 2007, with strong. At the same time a mere 21 per opposition reaching 56 per cent in the cent of Poles thought that the PiS same month 8.