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#EPP revokes Jacek Saryusz-Wolski’s vice-presidency over move to grab 'Tuska' role

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170306Jacek2Jacek Saryusz-Wolski MEP (left) meets with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker

At this week’s European Council, heads of government are expected to discuss its president for the period from 1 June 2017 to 30 November 2019. Saryusz-Wolski, who is a member of the Civic Platform (PO) party in Poland, took the unusual step of accepting the nomination of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, to run against fellow Pole, party member, and current incumbent Donald Tusk for the role of president of the European Council.

The EPP, on receiving PO’s official notification of Saryusz-Wolski’s immediate exclusion from his member party, are obliged to revoke his role of EPP vice-president and as a member of the EPP presidency. EPP President Joseph Daul said: “I deeply regret Saryusz-Wolski’s disloyalty and disrespect towards the unity and values of his own member parties, Civil Platform (PO) and the EPP.

"The EPP family’s position remains clear and unchanged. Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, has the EPP’s unequivocal support to continue for a second mandate in his current position.”

In a series of tweets from Manfred Weber, the president of the EPP group, made his views clear over the weekend.

‘Beware of an old man in a hurry’

Saryusz-Wolski says Tusk abused his international position. There is no evidence of this, and there is a failure to understand – a failure shared by Putin, Orban, Erdogan – that democracy and democratic values are not just about winning a majority in an election, it is also about ensuing that there is a separation of powers, that powers such as the judiciary should be independent and that the media should be pleural and independent of government.

In a step that looks like it is straight from the Donald Trump playbook, Sarusyz-Wolski went on a twitter tirade over the weekend. In a response to an ageist comment, he also pointed out that at the age of 69 he was only two years younger than the 45th president of the United States; he clearly sees parallels. Parallels that are unlikely to appeal to Europe’s leaders meeting at the end of this week.

One thing we can say with certainty is that Sarusyz-Wolski will not be the next president of the European Council. What motivated this incredible act of self-harm from a normally respected MEP and indeed vice president is difficult to understand.

Background

Relations between the EU and Poland have been strained over Poland’s refusal to respond to the situation in Poland concerning the rule of law.

The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 79 member parties and partners from 41 countries, the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament, 7 EU and 5 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest group in the European Parliament.

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