In 2003, those who agitated for our country's entry into the European Union assured us that regulations relating to the moral sphere would stay the work of the associate State forever. Concerns that Brussels will effort to impose in 1 way or another solutions against our faith, tradition and morality were to be separated from the realities by the horror of the fanatic Eurosceptics. In cooperation with the then left-wing government, the church hierarchy was almost naive visions of the early Christianization of the West by Poles.
20 years after these events, we are able to say with full conviction that concerns about the ideological colonization of Poland by Brussels were not unfounded. More and more often, there are various interferences of the EU institutions, utilizing both "hard" and "soft" means of impact to export the moral revolution to subsequent countries.
"From the Lublin Union to the European Union"
In retrospect, it must be said that the engagement of the Church in the referendum run for the pro-EU option has powerfully strengthened the position of accession supporters. Speeches of specified hierarchs as Archbishops Józef Życiński and Tadeusz Gocłowski, bishops Tadeusz Pieronek and Stanisław Gądecki show how wide the spiritual spectrum supported the EU accession. Although he did not explicitly call for a vote to be "yes", he besides had a pro-accession letter from the Episcopate of 2 May 2003 read in all churches.
This does not mean that Catholics could not find opponents of entry into the European Union. However, there were less of them, and the improvement of the situation in the referendum run made their commitment much more difficult. Among the environments that at least until any point had the courage to obey the threat, there was Radio Maryja. Among the hierarchs, Bishop Edward Frankowski was skeptical, who expressed his position powerfully on 9 May 2003 at Jasna Góra:
"Not for the impunity of the European Union! Don't give the land into abroad hands! We will not quit to our harmdoers, to those who harm us. It is our occupation to go to the June referendum. If there is no place in the Union for God, then there cannot be area for me.”
Skeptic voices in the organization Church were forced to stay silent erstwhile John Paul II personally engaged in the campaign. In the presence of president Kwasniewski, the Polish Pope gave a speech in Rome with the celebrated phrase "from the Lublin Union to the European Union". The Holy Father then expressed the view that “Poland needs Europe” and that “the entry into the structure of the European Union (...) is an expression of any historical justice for our people and fellow Slavic peoples.” John Paul II besides felt that "The Church in Europe needs a evidence of Poles".
Who?
After 2 decades, we know that it was not Poles who schristianized the Union, but Brussels made advancement in dechristianization of Poles. The warnings were mostly correct. After 1989, due to respective decades of closure behind the Iron Curtain, The Poles were unreflexively fond of the West. This process accelerated even more with its entry into EU structures in 2004, permanently changing the face of our nation. All public opinion surveys during these years prove this.
Analysis shows that the active participation of Poles in spiritual practices is steadily decreasing. According to a survey by the European Social Survey, the percent of people participating in Holy Mass decreased by 16% between 1990 and 2017. A akin process takes place with respect to social trust towards the clergy and organization Church, which fell from 45.6% in 1990 to 21% in 2017. Over the past decades, large changes have besides taken place in the perception of family, including the function of woman. In 1990, as many as 60% of Poles were skeptical about the work of mothers outside the house, while in 2017 only 13 percent. The support for highly left-wing demands, specified as the introduction of alleged partnerships, has definitely increased. The younger the generation, the faster the change. Among Poles up to the age of 33, even twice as much as those from older age groups declared that God and religion are crucial in their lives.
Of course, the liberalisation of our people's beliefs and mentality is not solely due to membership of the European Union. We are talking about complex phenomena for which various causes could be identified. However, at least to a large degree the consequence is the choice which Poles made during the 2003 referendum.
As a result, alternatively of the alleged reconstruction of Christian Europe, Poland flows through a wide stream of Western pop culture, saturated with egoism, consumption and normalization of various pathological behaviors specified as homosexuality or transgenderity. Harmful or demoralizing content is conveyed to young people in an attractive form of films or series, or through social media. The bottom-up fight against these phenomena organised in the form of Catholic counterculture is necessary, although besides much is not happening in this area, and the fight remains highly uneven. On the another hand, the apparatus of a country that could defy this phenomenon, being a associate of the European Union, even possibly has a considerable difficulty.
Ideological jihad
Of course, in theory, European law should not regulate the sphere of household or morals. The Union shall be built, inter alia, on the basis of the rule of granting that its operation is based on delegated powers by the States. In any treaty, however, Poland has not given Brussels the power to interfere in this matter. This means that the approach of national authorities to phenomena specified as the LGBT agenda should be an interior substance for each associate State.
Unfortunately, in the most influential countries of the Union, the moral revolution has long progressed. quite a few what is revolutionary in our country is treated as a "European standard" that is not discussed. Catholic convictions on fundamental ethical issues stay at the margins of debate, and may sometimes even consequence in criminal problems. Often, e.g. through open affirmation or indifference to sin, even the clergy do not share it.
Therefore, the EU institutions are utilized to export hostile ideologies to subsequent countries. This is done, for example, with mention to the Treaty on "respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities" (Article 2 TEU). Unlawful entry of the Union into issues that should not be dealt with at all is presented as a fight by transnational bodies with alleged human rights.
This ideological jihad is run by both soft means (so-called. soft law) and “hard”. We are talking about resolutions, declarations or political pressures, but more and more often, direct interference. First of all, erstwhile a country is trying to take any even modest steps against ideological oppression. The standard was besides to require beneficiaries of EU funds to implement the alleged equality policy.
Normality at the target
The "soft" interferences of EU institutions are known from our own backyard. We are, of course, talking about actions specified as resolutions of the European Parliament directed against Poland. However, financial blackmail is far more effective. After all, he led the Law and Justice Government to accept the alleged milestones and the unsuccessful effort to retreat from the essential elements of changes in the judiciary. He is besides known by Polish local governments, many of which, after the threat of losing the grant, withdrew from resolutions taken in defence of household rights.
In this context, the judgement of the TEUJEU in 2018 in Case C-46/05 Coman and others v Romania should besides be cited. EU judges considered that even if the country does not supply for alleged homosexual marriages in its legislation, at least to any degree it must recognise specified marriages in another associate State. This ruling may besides have consequences for Poland, as in 2023 the Polish NSA asked the EU Court of Justice about the transcriptions of abroad civilian position records confirming specified "marriage".
The same area concerns the proposal for a regulation presented by the European Commission to regulate "cross-border parental situations". If it enters into force, Poland will gotta recognise, among others, the "parenting" of homosexual couples from another EU countries. Let us stress that the EU Regulation applies straight in national order, even without legal implementation. The European Commission would besides like to bring about criminal rules across the EU on hatred speech. For the last 2 years, the task has been blocked by only 2 countries – Poland and Hungary. It is expected that Donald Tusk's government will not sustain this opposition.
Support for the moral revolution besides takes place by financing LGBT organizations. For example, the EU budget spends resources under the Citizens, Equality, Laws and Values programme aimed at combating alleged homophobia and another forms of alleged discrimination. According to the study issued by the Mama and Tata Foundation, between 2021 and 1927 EUR 1.85 billion is allocated to this purpose.
These are only any of the selected actions of European Union bodies in this area. The strategy for equality between LGBTIQ and LGBTIQ, adopted by the EC for the period 2020-2025, in addition to the "legal protection of LGBTIQ against hatred crimes, hatred speech and violence", besides mentions a number of another "Commission priorities" so that "the fight against discrimination against LGBTIQs is taken into account in all EU policies".
It is worth recalling that the EU's ideological colonization is besides supported by the European Court of Human Rights. For example, in December 2023 on Przybyszewska and others against Poland, the tribunal ruled that it was not possible to conclude a single-sex union in Polish law that violates the European Convention on Human Rights. Thus, at least in theory, Poland was formally obliged to introduce alleged partnerships.
What's next?
No 1 should uncertainty that the moral revolution has already gone very far. In my opinion, the fact that, with its unreflexive integration into European structures, it entered Poland was obvious. Those who warned against specified a turn of events were ridiculed, and their fears presented as irrational phobias. In turn, the organization church at least ignored or ignored the threat, showing at best far-flung naivety.
Let us besides note that we have not had a average public debate in this substance for a long time. Not only do our opponents have a immense capital and media advantage on their side, they are inactive somewhat administratively supported. Genderism is in fact the authoritative ideology of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. presently in Poland, the pro-EU government announces the introduction of criminal work for criticism of LGBT ideology.
Social and cultural changes themselves are an even greater problem, which have been ignored on the right for years. They've gone far, even though they may not yet be irreversible. However, I can't imagine triumph by the bottom-up. They must, of course, be pursued by showing our vitality and delaying liberalisation. Unfortunately, however, it is hard to anticipate a spectacular triumph of Catholic content over Netflix and Tinder. This is not only due to a simple imbalance in power and financial resources. In addition, we have against ourselves the contamination of human nature, which, as a consequence of first sin, most frequently chooses what is little demanding or flattering to the senses.
What's next? The answer seems to be a paraphrase of Louis de Bonald's celebrated message about the relation between a spiritual and political rod. I believe that, in order to fight these phenomena effectively in the long term, it would be essential to affect the state. I am talking not only about "soft" activities, specified as supporting centres of conventional thought and culture, but besides about certain "hard" activities. Let us remind that even from 2004 to 2005, Lech Kaczyński, taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by the office of the president of the capital, dared to ban the alleged parade of equality. Meanwhile, the Law and Justice, which until late controlled the full government apparatus, did not take any real steps to halt the LGBT offensive in Poland. The only thing we've been dealing with are seemingly hard statements for the reconciliation of the electorate in the election campaigns. specified a combination of deficiency of concrete action and theoretically decisive rhetoric could be counterproductive. I believe that the state, with almost all of today's popular culture against it, cannot tolerate outright demoralisation and another corrosive phenomena on the basis of average "views" in the public debate.
But would specified an approach be possible within the European Union? We would be dealing with a country which administratively and legally undermines the foundations of the authoritative policy pursued by Brussels and the vast majority of the another associate States. I think that the European institutions' consequence to a truly serious counter-revolution would be far further than the steps taken towards Hungary, which has timidly tried to do anything in this direction.
Bibliography:
- Andrzej Piasecki, 2003 accession referendum Balance sample, in: Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis. Studies Politologica II (2004)
- Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European economical and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Equality Union: LGBTIQ equality strategy for 2020-2025, European Commission, Brussels, 12.11.2020
- Between Europe of nations and a superstate, ed. B. Zalewski, T. Zych, Collegium Intermarium, Warsaw 2021
- Anna Kubacka, A law that can erase parent and father. Analysis of the draft EU Regulation "Cross-border household situations – designation of parenthood", Ordo Iuris, Warsaw 2023
- LGBT organizations in Poland: activity, financing, networks of connections, Mom and Dad Foundation, Warsaw 2019
- Przemysław Sadura, Liberalization and secularization of Polish society 1989–2020. Sociological Analysis, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung 2020
