Polish government gets cold feet on referendum

In the initial few days after the French Non and Dutch Nee, the Polish government insisted that it was the Poles right to vote on whether they wanted the Constitutional Treaty to go ahead, or not. But now, as opinion polls show support for a yes vote is hemorrhaging, the government’s democratic impulse is fading fast.

The left-wing SLD, in a minority position in parliament and deeply unpopular in the country after four years of corruption scandals and an inability to solve Poland’s 20% unemployment problem, faces a general election in three months time that it is sure to loose.

The SLD has indicated that it may choose to go for a quick vote in parliament to see if it can get a Yes for the Constitutional Treaty that way.

Recent opinion polls say that only around 40% support the treaty position at the moment. Just before the French and Dutch votes, around 60% said they would vote positively for the constitution.

Up until May’s constitution debacle, support for the EU was growing in Poland. This shift mainly came from the 25% of the population that relies on agriculture for its living. Poland has two million farms. Initially skeptic, this community has liked the subsidies coming its way, and has also noted that agricultural exports to the EU have risen by 40%.

But since they have seen the way that the French and Dutch reengaged with EU politics – by not answering the question that the increasingly out-of-touch Euro elites actually asked them – Poles have discovered that you can say No to these people and the world will not end.

But shouldn’t the people of the EU – all of them – have the right to vote on this and many other issues? That way, politics might re-emerge as the way to solve collective problems, and take power back from Eurocrats who have not been elected by anyone.

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