On Sunday, the Left announced its program for European elections. The program itself is hard to get attached. It is simply a collection of substantive, legitimate, progressive proposals, in addition, which, in this European campaign, is not at all obvious, in most actually related to European policy. At the same time, the left will have a fundamental problem with mobilising a possibly electorate with these proposals. Actually, not 1 problem, but three.
Last simplification in Euro-enthusiasm
The first is connected with how before these elections the Polish political scene moved. due to the fact that it has moved in a more Eurorealist direction, if not Eurosceptic direction. We have not only the beginning of the anti-European Confederation, but besides the PiS, which competes this year with possibly the most Eurosceptic message in its full history.
The platform abandoned its Euro-enthusiasm in turn. At the circumstantial level, in criticism of the Green Deal, the Migration Pact, the improvement of the EU Treaties, it took over any of the Eurorealist arguments. On the general level, if it offers a pro-European message, it is based on fear. "Choose the KO, at worst another parties of the Democratic coalition, due to the fact that it is the choice of Europe. If PiS wins, there will be a Russian mir" – the message of the KO in these elections sounds. The 3rd Road itself does not know precisely what its thought for Europe is, which best shows that the 2 parties making up this coalition after the elections will sit in 2 different factions: PSL Chadecka, Poland 2050 liberal – although it is hard to tell what the attitude of the talker of the Sejm in terms of reproductive rights has in rule to do with any liberalism.
The left on this background appears to be the last bastion of Euroenthusiasm. It is the only force in this election race that holds a clearly pro-European message. This is translated into circumstantial programme proposals. The left is open to changing the treaties. Among its programme proposals is the abolition of the rule of unanimity in votes in the European Council – which the Law and Justice organization presents as a threat to Polish sovereignty. It besides proposes to introduce respective solutions that at the same time democratise the EU institutions and deepen European integration. These include reducing the number of signatures needed to launch a European legislative initiative and preventing the EC from arbitrary blocking, expanding the budgetary powers of the European Parliament and granting it a legislative initiative. The EP would besides be able to call off individual European Commissioners, which would make the European Commission look like a European government liable to the European Parliament.
Being the only organization in favour of a deeper integrated and more democratic Europe can theoretically have its advantages, the problem is that the left in its pro-European message behaves as if it does not see a “eurorealist” correction taking place in Poland and cannot enter into an effective polemic with it. He speaks not so much in the context of the increasingly Eurosceptic mainstream of the Polish public debate, but alongside him. Its European communicative has not so far addressed the issues that bring the most emotion to this campaign: safety and the fact that, as both the KO and the PiS emphasizes, "we live in pre-war times."
In this situation too, pro-European voters, who would theoretically be closer to the message of the left, can support KO as the largest organization guaranteeing roots in Europe, treating it as a policy to defend Poland from shifting to the east.
We'll arrange it for you in Brussels!
Here comes the second, not only European problem of the left: the deficiency of perpetuity. After little than half a year in Donald Tusk's government, the left is not among its electorate – especially its most active in social media parts – the opinion of the organization especially the perpetrator. Not always deservedly, due to the fact that for its number of sabers in the Sejm and the general conditions of the left did not play so little. However, that is the impression of her most loud sympathizers. How does this translate into a European election?
On Sunday, the Left presented many proposals on how with the aid of European policies to solve crucial problems for its electorate in Poland. She so proposed the creation of a European Work Pact, which would include the end of free traineeships, the fight against sex pay gap, the transparency of wages, and yet a 35-hour working week. She would besides like to make a European Housing Fund, which would allocate EUR 100 billion to the construction of inexpensive apartments for rent – Poland would be worth as much as EUR 10 billion. On Sunday there was besides a promise to enter abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights – which would solve the problem of its availability in Poland regardless of the dilemmas of the conscience of Hołownia, Kosiniak-Kamysz or Duda.
These are all very good postulates. crucial to left-wing voters. They voted in the fall of 2023 for this formation, among others, to guarantee that they were implemented by the government coalition. For now, however, the left does not have spectacular successes. The voters can so be rather skeptical about the promises that the left will now get them in Europe what they have not done in the country. Especially as the Polish Left will send 3 to 5 MEPs, the organization of European Socialists will not win these European elections, and the full Euro-Parliament will decision to the right and the voice of the Left will be weaker in it than in 1 that is now ending its word of office.
It's mostly PIESEL.
Judging from the reactions in conventional and social media, PIESEL was the most out of all European programming demands – the thought of giving the PESEL number to all dog, in order to "end homelessness" among these animals.
The thought is not controversial in itself, but it has put the left at risk. The X portal flooded memes made and distributed by a left-wing commentariat mocking the idea, depicting it as an expression of an simple deficiency of seriousness of the left, which is incapable to settle anything important, so pops up with PIESEL.
This opinion is not entirely fair, left-wing commentaries do not necessarily reflect the temper of left-wing voters – according to the last poll CBOS The vast majority of its voters (69%) support the actions of the Tusk government. However, it cannot be concealed that the left has a serious problem with the communication of its European Communication and PIESEL is an excellent symbol of this.
Unfortunately, there is no good recipe for how the left side would deal with these 3 challenges in a fewer weeks: expanding mainstream Euroscepticism, affluence and communication. Although it is surely worth taking care of better communication, at least effort to enter into a polemic with the Eurosceptic drift of Polish politics and address the issue of safety more clearly, rooting in its European message.
However, the Left remains mostly to wait out these elections, to hope that the consequence – unlike in the local elections – will not be compromisingly weak and to start a long work on rebuilding its own position before the presidential elections – where the 2020 disaster cannot be repeated – and, above all, parliamentary in 2027.
