Former French ambassador to Warsaw: "The foundations of democracy are gradually being eroded. [...] Poland idolizes the US."
What the French elite think of Poland
Today, let’s analyse a few passages from a one-hour podcast about Poland, which clearly shows what the French elite think of Poland. The people who took part are very influential, especially His Excellency Pierre Buhler (probably the top French “expert” on Poland):
Philippe Meyer: French journalist, writer, radio and television broadcaster.
Jean-Louis Bourlanges: a French MP. A member of the Democratic Movement, he has presided over the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the National Assembly since 2021
Nicole Gnesotto: Vice-president of the Jacques Delors Institute
Michaela Wiegel: Paris-based political correspondent for the German newspaper Frankfurter Algemaine Zaitung
Pierre Buhler: eminent French diplomat and academic of Alsatian origin. He is a graduate of the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and the École Aationale d'Administration (ENA), two of France's most prestigious institutions for training in the social sciences and public administration. During his diplomatic career, Buhler served in various French embassies abroad, notably in Washington D.C. and Warsaw, where he was First Counsellor and Ambassador respectively. Within the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he also held the position of Director of Cultural Policy and French. In addition to his diplomatic work, Buhler is also renowned for his contributions to the academic world. He has taught at several institutions, including Sciences Po Paris, where he has lectured on international relations. He has also published numerous articles and books on subjects relating to diplomacy, foreign policy and international relations. He retired from the diplomatic service in 2015, but continues to be active as an author, lecturer and expert in international relations.
On Law and Justice
Philippe Meyer: "Since their rise to power, members of the PiS have taken measures to consolidate their control over government institutions and weaken counter-powers. The constitutional court and the supreme court have been reformed to limit the independence of justice, control of public media has been strengthened, and on October 22, 2020, a ruling by the constitutional council drastically limited the right to abortion, illustrating the threats that weigh on women's rights and also those of LGBT people."
"The eurosceptic, nationalist, and populist PiS party refuses to obey the Commission."
On the Polish democracy
Nicole Gnesotto: "Poland is a country that condenses almost all the misfortunes of history. That doesn't make it a nice country, but it makes it a very contradictory country. [...] Poland is a country that tries to make a virtue in its exemplary support to Ukraine, but maybe it's to better hide its internal sins on the European stage. Poland did not take the black students who were in Ukraine, so it is a racist country. It is Putin's biggest adversary, but it is also the biggest critic of the European order. It defends democracy in Ukraine, but it is the biggest gravedigger of democracy at home. So it's a country that has practically nothing compatible with the European Union. Poland has no legitimacy for any leadership. To say that Poland would be the new Eastern European leader of the European Union would be like saying that Marine Le Pen could be. It's exactly the same."
Pierre Buhler: "I will not pass moral judgment on Poland, but the diagnosis you make of the contradictions of Poland seems particularly justified to me. [...] The government of Donald Tusk professed values that are quite compatible with the principles of the EU. This changed by a democratic vote in 2015. [...] What we see when these populist parties come to power is that they take over the judicial system. We ended up in a few weeks with a public broadcaster that reminded me of Brezhnev's, totally subservient to power. The foundations of democracy which are the rule of law and freedom of expression are slowly being suffocated.
Philippe Meyer: "I feel like Nicole wants to mince Poland."
Nicole Gnesotto: "Haha!"
Philippe Meyer: "Morawiecki, he's not just anyone. He didn't go to the National School of Administration, he went to prison."
Pierre Buhler: "The government very generously funds an outright integrist media group called Radio Maria"
Nicole Gnesotto: "You say there is a democratic opposition, but forgive me, that's not an argument: there is certainly opposition in Turkey and Syria, but that doesn't mean these countries are future democracies. But the Poles have been voting for the PiS in large numbers since 2015. So there is a sort of deep state in Poland that is not democratic, that is rather racist, I'm not saying it's anti-Semitic but it could come back, I don't know, and that in any case puts Christian values above democratic values, and that, when I said earlier that it was a not very nice country was perhaps an understatement. How can the European Commission's indulgence towards Poland be explained? Why hasn't Poland been suspended from Council decisions?"
Pierre Buhler: "I disagree. The EU has not shown any leniency. […]"
On war reparations
Pierre Buhler: "They told themselves that Germany ended up paying for the Hereros, after a century, and so they are going to do the same. Hahahaha! Here we are in electoral manoeuvres."
On Poland’s European ambitions
Michaela Wiegel: "When we look at Poland's position in Europe today, it is clear that nothing is to be invented but everything is to be done. [...] The integration of Poland into the Weimar Triangle did not work well - we have a failure today, particularly in the German-Polish relationship (Poland, in the middle of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, began to demand reparations from Germany for the Nazi occupation, this is one of the big issues that poison Poland's European relationship)."
Pierre Buhler: "The problem is that Poland sees itself as the new Eastern leader of Europe, but even its neighbors don't want it. The fact is that the Polish Prime Minister's project of a European confederation of sovereign states, described during his Heidelberg speech, interests no one."
"The Poles do not believe in European defense or in strategic autonomy. They consider that the only guarantee of Europe's security is NATO and behind NATO it is the United States. And so they are in this logic of idolatry of the United States. [...]”
Other brilliant insight
Philippe Meyer: "Poland wants to become the strongest European military power with an army of 800,000 men" (yes, that's really what he said).
Nicole Gnesotto: "There is no explanation to tell us what the new Polish army would be for. Do they want to stop the war at the Russian border or do they want to take advantage of it to weaken Russia?"
Jean-Louis Bourlanges: "The United States is afraid of Russia's collapse in the face of China and there is little chance that they will let Ukraine take back Crimea. The Poles are deluding themselves. [...] The Poles are also buying tanks in Korea, which the Americans may not like very much."
His Excellency’s pro-Russians friends
It's very interesting to note that Nicole Gnesotto has defended positions that are quite favorable to Russia:
“Faced with the tensions caused by the status of Ukraine, which Russia refuses to see join NATO one day, defense specialist Nicole Gnesotto proposes a form of neutrality for this former region of the Soviet Union. A third way that would enable the United States, Europe and Russia to emerge from the current confrontation on a positive note.”
These are not isolated cases. It is the French elite’s established way of thinking about Poland:
Below, a book written by the French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire: “The New Empire: XXIst century Europe” (2019).
When you need to name a phenomenon, it's best to ask its author.
I will just leave it there:
“I can think of no other word [than ‘empire’] to describe the will to come together and preserve the long history and universality that have always been the strength of the European continent”.
Merci Bruno. This clarification saves me from having to accuse France of imperialism.
As for the rule of law, the “mistreatment” of women in Poland, etc.:
As of June 2022, Gazeta Wyborcza, the leading Polish opposition newspaper, had over 290 000 digital subscribers, and 80 000 print sales. In 2020, it was the 10th most-read newspaper in Europe.
Moreover, the German media conglomerate Ringier Axel Springer controls many Polish newspapers (notably Newsweek Polska, Forbes Polska, and Onet).
Voilà voilà… Lawless dictatorship, isn’t it?