The European Commission opens the money tap. The second success is not obvious [OPINIA]

One might also ask whether the constant “Donald is angry” messages appearing in the media – addressed to local government officials, authorities, meteorologists – really build an image of the authorities competently combating the element. Similarly to the question of whether it is the best idea to not admit journalists from Telewizja Republika – which is, however, the main source of “information” (in the case of this station, this word should be put in quotation marks) for a large group of viewers – in a time of crisis, when it is in the public interest that the government’s messages also reach the strongest PiS electorate.

The Prime Minister’s undoubted success – both in terms of communication, image and politics – is the meeting organised on Thursday in Wrocław with the President of the European Commission and the leaders of the countries in our region most affected by the floods.

EU €10 billion to combat floods

In addition to Tusk and Ursula von der Leyen, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer also attended the meeting in Wrocław. These are the leaders of all the countries affected by the floods, representing very different political families. Fiala is the leader of the Civic Democratic Party, which sits in the European Parliament in the same faction as PiS, the European Conservatives and Reformists. Fico’s leadership – the Social Democratic Party – was recently expelled from the Social Democratic International, mainly due to its corrupt involvement and its attitude towards the war in Ukraine. Nehammer, as leader of the Austrian People’s Party, is Tusk’s colleague in the Christian Democratic International, to which the PO also belongs.

The Polish Prime Minister managed to bring together in Wrocław leaders who were often far from the Polish government and from each other. While Fiala’s government is one of the strongest advocates of the policy of supporting Ukraine to defend itself from Russian aggression, Fico is, alongside Viktor Orbán, one of the most pro-Russian leaders in the European Union.

Most importantly, the meeting ended with important details. The President of the European Commission announced that, due to the extraordinary scale of the destruction, in addition to the usual funds from the EU Solidarity Fund, money from the Cohesion Fund, tailored to the needs of countries facing the effects of the floods, will also be released. A total of €10 billion will be divided between at least the four worst-affected countries. Importantly, these funds can provide 100% financing for reconstruction projects – which will be especially important for the places hardest hit by the disaster.

Although the decision on this matter was taken by the European Commission and it is not known what part of these funds will end up going to Poland, the fact that “EU 10 billion to combat the effects of floods” was announced in Wrocław, at a summit called on Tusk’s initiative, without doubt working politically to the benefit of the Polish Prime Minister.

Tusk is remembered as a leader of European stature

In the capital of Lower Silesia, Tusk also reminded Poles of how he is a politician of European calibre, a serious player both in Brussels and in our region. Someone who is capable of bringing the head of the EU’s most important institution to the region of Poland most affected by the floods and telling him: the situation is really serious, the EU must take extraordinary measures. In response, the European Commission really opens the money tap.

The image of a politician who is well-versed in the ins and outs of European politics and has excellent personal relations with all the key players was one of the important advantages of Tusk and KO during the 2023 elections, especially against the backdrop of the inept European policy of the Morawiecki government, which is stuck in a dispute with European institutions and is unable to release funds from the KPO. Tusk managed to release them quickly, but half a year has passed since then and voters, observing the prime minister’s involvement in national politics, the disputes with PiS and within the coalition, and the sometimes laborious clean-up left by his predecessors, may have somewhat forgotten the position that the Polish prime minister occupies in Europe and our region.

The Wrocław summit is a natural reminder of this. Watching the prime ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia gather at a press conference around the Polish prime minister, the public will be reminded of how highly valued Tusk was in the region as head of the European Council. So much so that when PiS, inspired by Ryszard Czarnecki, tried to block his election for a second term, it lost 27:1, without even winning the support of his main ally in Budapest, Viktor Orbán.

This makes PiS’s criticism even more misguided.

Of course, the final assessment of the Wrocław summit will only be possible when we see how much EU money will reach Poland and how these funds will be used. At the same time, Tusk will be able to recognise and use the peak of the flood as his political success.

Against the backdrop of Tusk’s meeting of the region’s leaders and the mobilisation of quite large EU funds, the United Right leaders’ outright attack on the government or trying to use the flood to defend spending from the Justice Fund or Antoni Macierewicz as the creator of the Territorial Defence Forces does not seem particularly serious. Given the prime minister’s successes in the EU, the political line that PiS has adopted on the floods may become even more flawed in the eyes of public opinion.

PiS must be aware that it has moved beyond all-out attacks on the government; the media reports that the party should now focus on helping flood victims and tone down attacks on Tusk and his cabinet. The problem is that PiS is now so heated with anti-Tus energy that it is unclear whether such a change of direction is possible at all. We will know in the coming days – but no one will be surprised if the Polish Prime Minister’s success only fuels the main opposition party’s aggression.