Poland-EU relations heading for reset as new government expected following elections
A change of government in Poland is now highly likely following a vote on Sunday that saw the highest turnout in the country's post-Soviet history.
Transcript
00:00 A change of government is now highly likely in Poland after the most participated elections
00:06 in the country`s post-Soviet history.
00:09 Three opposition parties known as the Civic Coalition with an overall majority of seats
00:13 in the Polish parliament are ready to team up against the ruling Law and Justice Party.
00:19 Former European Council President Donald Tusk set to become the prime minister of a coalition
00:23 that will mark a serious change from the past.
00:26 I`ll definitely try, first of all, to, let`s say, get Poland back on the way of democracy.
00:33 So, the judiciary system will be freed, the press will be again free and, of course, also
00:39 rights for minorities will be reinstated.
00:44 And this would help Warsaw`s relationship with Brussels after eight years of a conservative,
00:49 nationalist and populist government.
00:53 I think that very much Poland will be again a reliable partner within the European Union.
00:59 We will definitely try to have better relationships with our neighbors.
01:04 But some of the Civic Coalition`s positions will be in line with the Law and Justice Party`s,
01:08 only with slight differences.
01:11 Polish support for Ukraine will remain strong, although tensions with Brussels on migration
01:15 will likely continue.
01:17 There are many concerns in the country related to the migration, but also to the security
01:23 that Tusk has to deal at the domestic level.
01:27 And we know that also his tenses on migration is not necessarily, let`s say, positive when
01:33 we speak about the relocation, obligatory relocation mechanism.
01:38 However, the way how he will present and the way how he will engage constructively with
01:44 the European decision-makers, of course, will be different.
01:49 Whatever happens, Donald Tusk has a huge challenge ahead of himself when it comes to managing
01:53 a coalition formed by parties from across the political spectrum.
01:59 There will be internal disputes, I think, but I think they will rather concern internal
02:04 issues, for example, abortion.
02:06 So, on abortion, of course, every of these three parties is much more flexible and much
02:11 more open towards accommodating women`s rights than the current government, but there are
02:15 still differences between them, ranging from let us liberalize abortion totally to, OK,
02:21 let`s have some rules and let`s work on that, but we cannot, you know, liberalize abortion
02:25 fully.
02:26 Another possible bone of contention could be the introduction of the euro.
02:30 One possible coalition partner called the Poland 2050 Party wants to join the eurozone
02:34 currency, whereas two other parties are more hesitant.
02:37 (whooshing)