#Tusk reappointment: 'Kaczynski and Szydlo are doing a major disservice to their own country and its citizens'

Commenting on Polish Government’s resistance to the reappointment of Donald Tusk as President of the European Council, European Green Party Co-Chair Reinhard Bütikofer said:

“It is most unfortunate that the Polish government has decided to turn the debate over a second term for President Tusk into a pitched political battle between Poland and its neighbors. The danger of an escalation of this conflict is putting at risk necessary steps forward towards a European Union that delivers better to its citizens. Anti-German propaganda from Warsaw cannot hide the fact that even within the Visegrad Group of EU member states Poland has not been able to convince its partners. The simple bottom line must be that the EU needs Poland but Poland also needs the EU. No member state should try to force its will on almost all the others. Mr Kaczynski and Ms Szydlo must climb down from their tree. In a rational analysis they must come to the conclusion that they are doing a major disservice to their own country and its citizens.”