When in doubt, (Re-)turn to domestic politics? The (Non-)impact of the EU on party politics in Poland

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics

Volumn 25, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 447-467

  Szczerbiak, Aleks ^a   Bil, Monika ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77649200190     PISSN: 13523279     EISSN: 17439116     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13523270903310837     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. A very rare exception here, ironically focusing on the new post-communist states rather than longer established EU members, is Paul Lewis and Zdenka Mansfeldová (eds.), The European Union and Party Politics in Central and Eastern Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2006).
2. Robert Ladrech, 'Europeanization and Political Parties: Towards a Framework for Analysis', Party Politics, Vol.8, No.4 (2002), pp.389-403.
3. Elizabeth Carter, Kurt Richard Luther and Thomas Poguntke, 'European Integration and Internal Party Dynamics',
4. Thomas Poguntke, Nicholas Aylott, Elisabeth Carter, Robert Ladrech and Kurt Richard Luther, The Europeanization of National Political Parties: Power and Organizational Adaptation (London and New York: Routledge, 2007), pp.1-27 (pp.12-4).
5. Ladrech also identifies a fifth dimension that considers changes in party management and party-government relations driven by European integration, whereby inter-governmental bargaining may lead the government (and, therefore, party) leader to distance himself or herself from party programmatic positions. We do not examine this dimension in this essay for two reasons: first, it is, in many ways, the most fuzzy and difficult to conceptualize and measure; second, we cannot actually think of any examples of this phenomenon occurring in Poland either before or after EU accession. This is, therefore, one dimension where we can assert from the outset that there has been a definite EU 'non-impact'.
6. That exception was the short-lived Polish Agreement (Porozumienie Polskie: PP) party that emerged in 1999 based on seven clerical-nationalist deputies who had broken away from the governing Solidarity Electoral Action grouping in the previous year because of their opposition to Polish membership of the EU. After its leader Jan £opuszański secured only 0.79 percent of the vote in the October 2000 presidential election running on an anti-EU ticket, the party was subsumed within the League of Polish Families: see Aleks Szczerbiak, 'Europe as a Re-aligning Issue in Polish Politics? Evidence from the October 2000 Presidential Election', Sussex European Institute Working Paper No.48/Opposing Europe Research Network Working Paper No.3 (Brighton: Sussex European Institute, 2001), p.16.
7. See also Aleks Szczerbiak, 'Opposing Europe or Problematising Europe? Euroscepticism and Eurorealism in the Polish Party System', in Paul Taggart and Aleks Szczerbiak (eds.), Opposing Europe: The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism in Contemporary Europe. Volume One: Case Studies and Country Surveys (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp.221-42.
8. See, for example, John Reed, 'Election Result May Deal Blow to Poland's EU Hopes', Financial Times, 25 Sept. 2001.
9. Aleks Szczerbiak, 'After the Election, Nearing the Endgame: The Polish Euro-debate in the Run up to the 2003 EU Accession Referendum', Sussex European Institute Working Paper No.53/Opposing Europe Research Network Working Paper No.7 (Brighton: Sussex European Institute, 2002), pp.11-8.
10. Ibid., p.17.
11. Radosaw Markowski, 'EU Membership and the Polish Party System', in Lewis and Mansfeldová (eds.), The European Union and Party Politics, pp.128-48 (pp.133-4).
12. Radosaw Markowski and Joshua Tucker, 'Political Representation and EU Accession: Evidence from Poland', paper presented to the 2005 American Political Science Association annual meeting, Washington, DC, 1-4 Sept. 2005.
13. However, intriguingly, in a subsequent paper, Markowski and Tucker argue that Euroscepticism was a significant factor accounting for the surge in support for Self-Defence and the League of Polish Families in 2001: see Radosaw Markowski and Joshua Tucker, 'Euroskepticism and the Emergence of Political Parties in Poland', Jan. 2008, available at: accessed 24 April 2008.
14. Beata Roguska and Jacek Kucharczyk, Wybory 2001 a integracja Polski z Unia Europejska [The 2001 Elections and Poland's Integration with the European Union] (Warsaw: ISP, 2001), p.13.
15. Aleks Szczerbiak, 'Europe and the September/October 2005 Polish Parliamentary and Presidential Elections', European Parties Elections and Referendums Network Election Briefing No.22, available at: .
16. CBOS, Polacy o Europejskiej Konstytucji [Poles on the European Constitution] (CBOS: Warsaw, 2005; April 2005 data), pp.11-3.
17. Aleks Szczerbiak, 'Europe and the October 2007 Polish Parliamentary Election', European Parties Elections and Referendums Network Election Briefing No.37, available at: .
18. See, for example, Jan Cienski and Stefan Wagstyl, 'Twins Are Remaking Poland', Financial Times, 30 Aug. 2006.
19. 'A Swamp of Paranoid Nostalgia', Economist, 5 July 2007.
20. For a lengthier analysis of Polish foreign policy during this period, see Piotr Maciej Kaczyński, Polska polityka zagraniczna w latach 2005-2007: co po konsensie? (Warsaw: ISP, 2008).
21. Aleks Szczerbiak, 'The Birth of a Bi-polar Party System or a Referendum on a Polarizing Government? The October 2007 Polish Parliamentary Election', Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Vol.24, No.3 (2008), pp.415-43.
22. See, for example, 'Premier: Dziadostwo w polityce zagranicznej źle sie konczy' ['Rotten Behaviour in Foreign Policy Will End Badly'], 28 Sept. 2007, available at: accessed 2 Oct. 2007.
23. See, for example, Bernadeta Waszkielewicz, 'Bartoszewski: PiS to dewianci', ['Bartoszewski: PiS are Deviants'], Rzeczpospolita, 1 Oct. 2007.
24. 'LiD prezentuje raport na temat polskiej polityki zagranicznej' ['LiD Presents a Report on the Subject of Polish Foreign Policy'], 28 Sept. 2007, available at: accessed 2 Oct. 2007.
25. Aleks Szczerbiak, 'History Trumps Government Unpopularity: The June 2003 Polish EU Accession Referendum', West European Politics, Vol.27, No.4 (2004), pp.671-90.
26. See, for example: Michał Kopiński, 'Platforma: my to Zachód, PiS to Wschód' ['Civic Platform: We are the West, PiS are the East'], Gazeta Wyborcza, 17 Sept. 2007, available at: accessed 19 Sept. 2007.
27. See, in particular, the contributions by Ps¡eja and Hlous¡ek on the Czech Republic and Haughton and Rybá on Slovakia in this collection.
28. For critical accounts of both the more general methodological difficulties associated with determining dimensions of party competition on the basis of content analysis of manifestos and party programmes, and the specific difficulties of applying this approach to the Polish case, particularly in evaluating the importance of 'hidden' dimensions such as attitudes towards the communist past and religiosity.
29. see Xymena Bukowska and Mikołaj Cześnik, 'Analiza treści programów wyborczych polskich partii politycznych 1991-2000' ['An Analysis of the Contents of Polish Political Parties' Election Programmes, 1991-2000'].
30. Radosław Markowski (ed.), System Partyjny i Zachowanie Wyborcze: Dekada Polskich Doś-wiadczeń [The Party System and Electoral Behaviour: a Decade of Polish Experiences] (Warsaw: ISP PAN, 2002), pp.267-87.
31. Radosław Markowski, 'Propozycja "Manifesto Research Group": Metoda, Wyniki, Problemy - Komentarz' ['The "Manifesto Research Group" Proposal: Method, Results, Problems - Commentary'].
32. Markowski (ed.), System Partyjny i Zachowanie Wyborcze, pp.289-97.
33. Author interview with Krzysztof Lisek, Civic Platform International Secretary, April 2007. This confirms the findings of an Institute of Public Affairs report on the activities of Polish MEPs which suggested that they have the greatest impact on European issues, although this often stemmed from a lack of interest in, and a low level of importance attached by the parties to, them: see Jarosaw Cwiek-Karpowicz, Piotr Kaźmierkiewicz and Magdalena Pucyk, The Polish Members of the European Parliament: Their Activities and Impact on the Polish Political Scene (Warsaw: ISP, 2007), pp.58, 61.
34. Author interview with Tadeusz Iwiński, Democratic Left Alliance parliamentary deputy, April 2007.
35. Cwiek-Karpowicz et al., The Polish Members of the European Parliament, p.11.
36. Author interview with Pawe Graś, Civic Platform Deputy General Secretary, April 2007.
37. Author interview with Tadeusz Iwiński.
38. Author interviews with Pawe Graś and Krzysztof Lisek.
39. Author interview with Tadeusz Iwiński.
40. Author interview with Anna Pietak, Law and Justice party, Director, Union for a Europe of Nations Warsaw Office, April 2007.
41. See, for example, Magdalena Grzebakowska, 'Sztabowcy Kaczyńskich' ['The Kaczynskis' Staffers'], Gazeta Wyborcza, 18 Oct. 2005.
42. 'Drudzy bliźniacy PiS' ['PiS's Second Twins'], Rzeczpospolita, 6 March 2006.
43. Kamiński actually resigned as an MEP in July 2007 to work in Lech Kaczyński's presidential chancellery.
44. Cwiek-Karpowicz et al., The Polish Members of the European Parliament, p.63.
45. Author interview with Jan Borkowski, lecturer at the Warsaw University Centre for Europe, Polish Peasant Party deputy 1993-97, deputy foreign minister, 1996-97 and 2007-present, April 2007.
46. Author interview with Jan Borkowski.
47. Author interview with Jan Borkowski. However, rather confusingly, and apparently contradicting Mr Borkowski, in another interview (April 2007) Peasant Party MEP Czes3aw Siekerski spoke of the existence of a 'party commission on European integration' of which he claimed he was a member. This was probably one of the informal groupings of which Mr Borkowski spoke, rather than an official party body.
48. Author interview with Mateusz Piskorski, Self-Defence Party spokesman, April 2007.
49. Author interview with Daniel Pawowiec, League of Polish Families parliamentary deputy and secretary of state in the Office of European Integration, April 2007.
50. Author interview with Krzysztof Lisek. At the time that the interview was conducted, Mr Lisek had made four visits to Berlin within the previous five weeks accompanied by various Civic Platform politicians. The party also enjoyed particularly close links with parties in other post-communist states including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia among EU member states; and Belarus and Ukraine among non-members.
51. Author interview with Tadeusz Iwiński.
52. Available at: accessed 23 April 2008.
53. 'PiS nie chce juzÿ do Europejskiej Partii Ludowej' ['PiS No Longer Wants to be in the European People's Party'], Rzeczpospolita, 13-14 Sept. 2003.
54. Author interview with Anna Pietak.
55. Cwiek-Karpowicz et al., The Polish Members of the European Parliament, p.42.
56. Author interview with Daniel Pawłowiec.
57. Author interview with Mateusz Piskorski.
58. See Tim Haughton and Marek Rybár, 'An Additional Tool in the Toolbox, But Not Much More: The Limited Impact of the EU on Party Politics in Slovakia', paper presented at the 4th ECPR General Conference, University of Pisa, 6-8 Sept. 2007.
59. a revised version of that paper appears in the present collection.