MEPs from the left side of the European Parliament dislike Polish Prime minister’s attitude on migrations and the Green Deal, while Patriots and Conservatives say they don’t trust him
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s address to the European Parliament on Wednesday garnered some warm applause for his stance on defence but criticism quickly emerged over his attack on the Green Deal and his migration track record.
Socialists and Democrats (S&D), for instance, condemned Tusk’s call to deregulate to boost European competitiveness as well as his migration policy, which focuses primarily on border security.
“We strongly oppose this regressive approach to migration, which is biased towards the security side instead of striking a fair balance between shared responsibility and solidarity with those fleeing from despair,” Juan Fernando López Aguilar, a prominent Spanish Socialist MEP, told Euronews after the debate.
He and his colleagues criticised Tusk’s refusal to implement the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which was adopted by the EU in 2024 and is set to be fully implemented by mid-2026. Poland plans to introduce a time-limited and territorial suspension of the right to asylum and is among those countries that have missed the first deadline to present their national implementation plans.
“Security means also sticking to the legislation that we have adopted,” quipped López Aguilar, also criticising Poland’s strategy to erect walls and fences at the border with Belarus to be paid for with EU money. “We strongly oppose EU financing for fences on the external borders of the European Union. There are borders to be protected, but fairly and in good balance, not only by strengthening external borders but also by cooperating fairly with countries of transit or origin, opening up legal pathways, and, of course, understanding the EU’s commitment to fundamental rights and human rights.”
Irregular crossings at Poland’s and Lithuania’s borders by migrants entering from Belarus have increased by 192% in the last year compared to 2023, but still represent a small fraction of the total irregular entries into the EU: 17,001 out of over 239,000 detections, far fewer than the irregular arrivals through the Mediterranean routes or in the Canary Islands.
Another contentious issue in Tusk’s speech was the Green Deal with some MEPs reacting negatively to his call for a “full and very critical review” of the pro-environment laws.
“Tusk’s line, which is also the European People’s Party line, actually takes a step back on the Green Deal. While for us it is necessary to fight energy poverty [as Tusk claimed], at the same time it is necessary to give a greater input to the Green Deal,” Italian MEP Danilo Della Valle from The Left group told Euronews.
Like other colleagues, Della Valle believes that a boost in renewable energy is the best way to decrease Europe’s reliance on other countries. “We always talk about energy independence, but how can we be independent from Russian gas or LNG from the US if we do not invest in renewable energies?”
Nationalist parties have no trust in Tusk
Sharp criticism also came from right-wing groups including the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), Patriots for Europe (PfE), and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), among which there are several Polish MEPs.
They attacked him on domestic issues, claiming his government is backsliding on democracy and the rule of law, as well as on some of his flagship policies.
“Despite pledging to strengthen the Union’s independence from Russia, his (Tusk’s) collaborators recently approved a gas deal with Russian suppliers and removed a Gazprom-linked company from the sanctions list” Patryk Jaki (Poland), the co-chairman of the ECR group said, adding that confidence in Mr. Tusk’s leadership by the EU institutions would be naïve.
Fellow Polish MEP, from the opposition nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, Piotr Müller, agreed with Tusk on the need to backtrack on environmental policies, but told Euronews that this plea must translate into concrete actions including the withdrawal from the Green Deal of the revised Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), a mechanism that requires polluters to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are not talking about postponing this, but withdrawing from this kind of solutions. And no such declaration was made today, there was only a general talk that it should be adjusted to the possibilities of citizens,” he said.
MEP Anna Bryłka from Poland’s extreme-right party Konfederacja also expressed her disbelief in Tusk’s promises. “When Prime Minister Tusk said that he is against massive and uncontrolled migration, that he wants to block our EU’s external borders, he’s a liar,” she told Euronews.
Two years ago, she argued, Tusk and his party voted against the construction of a fence at the Polish-Belarusian border. “I am very happy that he changed his mind about the external European Union’s borders. But he is not the right person to make things happen.”
