Ryszard Legutko is a Polish philosopher and politician. He is a professor of philosophy at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, so as a head of the Polish Law and Justice Delegation to the European Parliament and a co-chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists. Standing in front of the European Parliament, he spoke from the tribune about the failure of the European policy.
First of all, Mr Legutko blamed the European Parliament for the failed foreign and domestic policy, which led Europe to the deepest economic crisis and high inflation rate.
“Is the EU in better shape today than it was twenty years ago? The answer is emphatically no. To paraphrase Shakespeare’s Hamlet: something is rotten in the state of the Union. There is more instability, tension and uncertainty than ever. To quote a recent issue of The Economist: “Inflation remains hot (…) officials are increasingly worried by the cloudy growth outlook. The block is facing a recession’.”
The reason for such a serious crisis, according to the MEP, is the imposition of economic sanctions on Russia and the cessation of all trade with Moscow.
“It is to your credit [adressing to the president of the EU parliament Roberta Metsola] that you initiated sanctions against Russia. But again, there is little reason to rejoice. Before the invasion, the European Commission did not dare to do anything about the German-Russian energy alliance. As a result of its refusal to act, the Commission bears part of the responsibility for the depth of the energy crisis.”
Alternative green energy sources, which should be a competitive substitute for Russian gas, have in reality turned out to be nothing but a financial black hole, which, according to Ryszard Legutko, the European Parliament prefers to keep quiet about.
“The Green Deal, the Commission’s flagship, instead of being a vehicle of growth, is an expensive extravagance, more than EUR 300 billion by 2030, with the rising cost of living, energy bills and other unpleasant aspects of this yet another Commission and Parliament fantasy. The Commission has been unsurprisingly silent on the matter.”
Finally, as the Polish MP states, the degradation of European politics has reached the point where it is turning into a dictatorship trying to exert pressure on member states by interfering in their internal affairs.
“The Commission has turned into a partisan machine, meddling in national politics, trying to topple the governments it does not like. You yourself, Madam President, threatened the Italian voters before the elections, and I quote: “If things go in a difficult direction, we have the tools”. Let me remind you: you do not have any tools to interfere in the democratic process of nation states.”
