Marek Siwiec MEP on Poland & Europe

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Articles by Marek Siwiec MEP

The Commissioner will sue David Cameron for the way he treats the Poles

Posted by Marek Siwiec MEP on 15/05/13

You could say – this is a model operation with the use of national and European “forces and resources.” When David Cameron warned that he will be turning the bolt for immigrants, including immigrants from the EU, there was an unusual silence. The exception was the inquiry to the Prime Minister from Janusz Palikot (the second inquiry so far). Whereas, I presented this issue to the Groups of Socialists and Democrats. And so, there came an official written question to the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion, László Andor.
I indicated in this inquiry, which regulations of the European law are being breached or will be breached by the British government according to its announcements. It concerns the directive on the right to the freedom of movement for EU citizens and their family members and the right to reside within the territory of the member states. The second regulation, which the British are ignoring, concerns the right of workers to be able to remain in a member state even after their employment has finished. Bear in mind that the regulation will be binding in its entirety and will be directly applied in all the member states. You could also invoke Article 45, Treaty of the Functioning of the EU, which is the basis of the regulations above.
Today marks the three week period that the Commission had to give a response. Together with Janusz Palikot, we visited László Andor yesterday, who concisely and accurately described his actions. He demanded an explanation from the British and gave evidence of them breaching the law. But, to no avail. Yesterday, we were informed that he would take the case to the European Court of Justice.
I am surprised that the Polish media that was informed of this fact didn’t notice the significance of the event. I don’t know if the court has already made a decision, but at this stage we simply have the win.

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To Protect Poles in Britain

Posted by Marek Siwiec MEP on 13/05/13

David Cameron is a professional. When announcing (in the Polish media too) the crackdown on immigrants, he was setting the stage for concrete decisions. The government’s plans were declared in the House of Commons by the Queen in her speech prepared by the Prime Minister, as it had been usually held in Britain. It will be exactly as promised – more difficulty to access housing benefits, a decreased period of unemployment status and in general all immigrants (including those of the EU countries) will be treated like a group of sub-humans that are subject to real segregation.

In this case, along with my political group, I prepared a written question to the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, László Andor, while Janusz Palikot addressed the same inquiry to the Polish Prime Minister. The reason behind it was our belief that the fundamental EU Treaty principle of freedom of movement was breached. We have received many signals from the UK saying that the Poles are mistreated- housing allowances are granted in a completely inconsistent way. Famous for their independence and impartiality, the British courts need “only” 5 years for settling the alimony cases of Poles. In general, the British government is acting as if locusts from the new member states came to exploit the Crown; not working and not paying taxes. Just like that.

Tomorrow in Brussels we will discuss these issues with the Chairman of the Palikot Movement, who will meet with the leadership of the S&D group, as well as with Commissioner Andor.

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Speaking Loud and Dropping Names

Posted by Marek Siwiec MEP on 13/05/13

Our European flyers went into the world. Preliminary statistics – of the 10 awards we were giving, two people declined. There were many people who asked for a contact and want to collaborate with Europa Plus. On this occasion, we have done a short review of the bullets shot at us and Aleksander Kwaśniewski from February.

Chronologically, it was something like this:

- The room – too small and too dim,
- no women,
- only oldies among them,
- they’re breaking down the left wing,
- they want to force their way into the European Parliament,
- Palikot is weighing down Kwasniewski,
- and vice versa,
- he didn’t look good and he probably drank (Kwasniewski, not Palikot),
- they are taking money from Nazarbajew,
- and Kwasniewski is taking money from Kulczyk,
- he is plotting with Russian Jews,
- And in general, will he stand for the election or not?!

And so it was loud and there were a lot of names dropped.

But here we go!
PS Since yesterday, an updated Europa Plus website has been operating. We removed the Hyde Park section, but thanks to that you can comment on any article. There will be more political commentaries and interaction. Enjoy! http://europaplus.org.pl/

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To spice up your appetites

Posted by Marek Siwiec MEP on 08/05/13

Tomorrow we will publish a Europa Plus program. Tomorrow, on Europe Day, we want to publicly pledge the direction of our work on the program which is being formed before your eyes. I do not want to spoil the premiere, but to spice up your appetite today, here are a few thoughts that you can read about in details tomorrow.
• We are not afraid of the word “federalization”. More power should go to Brussels with regard to cases when the citizens can benefit from that. Conversely, we’re eliminating absurdities – such as the working time of doctors should be regulated by the members states themselves.
• This process must be accompanied by the principle of “more democracy in Europe.” The parliament must exercise realistic control over the bureaucracy. It must assume more power in Europe.
• We want to make the European economy compete with the rest of the world.
• We demand the completion of operation “a common European market.”
• The single currency will ensure the safety of businesses and citizens.
• Common English language taught broadly and for free will ease our lives.
• Europeans should spend at least one hour a week on shared history lessons in schools.
…

Not enough?

Tomorrow I invite you for more!

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Opponents of Europa Plus – be prepared for the worst

Posted by Marek Siwiec MEP on 07/05/13

Apparently bookies in London get bets on whether or not Aleksander Kwasniewski will stand for the elections to the European Parliament. This is of course a joke, but the subject is present in the public debate. He himself has commented on this twice, first said he is not excluding the idea of being a candidate and recently he said that for now he is not going to stand for the election. And so it began.

Instead of listening to the voice of the former president, opponents have released a deep sigh of relief. Meanwhile, we learned something banal – Aleksander Kwasniewski is not a candidate now, because at this moment … noone candidates.

The former president could make two false moves. The first is confirming his candidacy – then everyone, instead of getting to work, would be waiting for a miracle. The second disastrous move would be to announce he does not stand for the election – then we would hear that the entire Europa Plus project is bogus, and that in general, people were deceived.

For me personally, it is enough that the co-creation of Europa Plus by Aleksander Kwasniewski is concrete and tangible. Just the way you make politics. When we really need him, he is there. At this stage he will not do things which can easily be done by others.

To all those who are afraid of Europa Plus, afraid of Aleksander Kwasniewski in politics (of course not European, but a national one) I am dedicating an important message: prepare for the worst.

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Appearances, colours might be misleading

Posted by Marek Siwiec MEP on 03/05/13

The map of Europe which shows the levels of unemployment in the European Union countries is worth the look.

Let’s first exclude, however, two dark islands – Spain and Greece. These countries depart significantly from the average (already quite high) unemployment rate in the EU.

A number of conclusions which break down a stereotype over unemployment deserve to be emphasised here. Firstly, there is no connection between eurozone adhesion and unemployment rate. There is, furthermore, no relation between the “old” and “new” Union division and level of unemployment whatsoever. When we look at the line of high unemployment which starts in Latvia and finishes in Portugal or in Ireland, we can see that the situation on the job market does not necessarily depend on issues related to the eurozone adhesion.

Germany and Austria are two countries which witness relatively lower levels of unemployment. We can, however, also observe a longer line marking lower unemployment which starts in Great Britain and finishes (surprisingly!) in Romania.

I would like to spare a few word on four countries of the “new” Union where the statistics are quite favourable – Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Romania. Estonia was the first to start a fight against crisis. Making use of its location and economic bonds with Finland and Sweden, the country managed to push the economy into a relatively good state. Similar reasons made Czech and Slovenian’s economy doing quite well. Romania’s result is sensational. I believe its low unemployment rate is due to the fact that the country is still quite poor and the sate remains to be a big employer itself.

Making plans for combating unemployment in Poland, with those 2, 3 million unemployed citizens in mind, we shall remember that it is not the miraculous, single system that could be in force in all European countries but a well ordered internal economic policy that matters the most. Poland has a big internal market whose capabilities might trigger significant changes on the job markets. What might boost our economy is the trade cooperation with the East, especially with the Russian Federation. This potential has not been fully developed yet. Finally, there is a need to introduce a radical change in the use of the European money to boost entrepreneurship. Where apparently trivial, these are quite fundamental issues, which will be promoted by Europe Plus with regard to the job market in Poland and in Europe.

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Ukrainian Mission of Aleksander Kwaśniewski

Posted by Marek Siwiec MEP on 22/04/13

If numerous ‘fans’ of Aleksander Kwasniewski feel like following his Ukrainian mission activities I have a surprise for them. A day schedule of the former President and Pat Cox for both today and tomorrow.

Monday

9-12 Meeting with President Yanukovych
12-13:30 Meeting with PM Azarov
14-30-15:30 Meeting with Speaker Rybak
16-17 Meeting with Tymoshenko defence team
17-18 Meeting with Lutsenko
18-19 Meeting with former Congressman Slattery
19-20 Meeting with EU Ambassadors 27

Tuesday

7:20-11:20 Flight Kyiv- Brussels
12-13:15 Meeting with AFET Enlarged Bureau
15-16 Meeting with the Delegation EU-Ukraine
16-18 Meeting with Yatsenyuk, the leader of the parliamentary fraction ‘Fatherland’, and Lady Ashton
18-19 Meeting with former PM Kluyev

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Success of Kwasniewski and Cox

Posted by Marek Siwiec MEP on 18/04/13

When I am writing these words Aleksander Kwasniewski and Pat Cox are giving a report on their Ukrainian mission at the Conference of Presidents in the European Parliament. The mission is concluded by the release of 2 former ministers in Yulia Tymoshenko government (earlier one more prisoner had been released)

The report prepared by Kwaśniewsk and Cox contains some facts and figures- several days spent in Ukraine, 15 meetings with President Yanukovych and another several meetings with his closest collaborators, Prime Minister Azarov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Klyuyev, ministers, procurators, attorneys and finally prisoners themselves.

We can run a reasonable dispute over the achievements of the mission, whether it was successful or not. It is, however, indisputable that without humiliating petitions to grant a pardon, three people were released from prison. Nevertheless, the most important one is still kept in a prison hospital.

I expect the mission to be continued.

Aleksander Kwasniewski and Pat Cox together with Martin Schulz have all reasons to be satisfied. The President of the European Parliament risked a lot establishing unprecedented political operation. It was not the Commission, not the Council, not Ashton’s team, but the European Parliament that did a great job in order to set up requisite conditions to sign the Association Agreement during the Vilnius Summit.

It was not by chance that Aleksander Kwasniewski was congratulated by the EU diplomacy chief Catherine Ashton and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle.

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LGBT and the visas

Posted by Marek Siwiec MEP on 17/04/13

Yesterday the European Parliament held a debate on visa facilitation for the Ukrainians. The issue seemed indisputable since it applies to a small group of citizens – youths, students and seniors. The idea in question concerns mainly prolonging the visa validity and in some cases reducing the cost of issuance. I used the word SEEMED deliberately, since it had been indisputable until the LGBT lobby started to criticize the draft.

The representatives of LGBT group claimed that a country which openly fights against homosexuals instead of fighting homophobia does not deserve any kind of gestures of goodwill from the European Union. In addition, on that occasion also Russia was punished for showing off in Europe with its “fight against promoting homosexuals”.

I participated in that discussion and I presented my view. We cannot throw the baby out with the bath water in such case. How can we punish people who want to immigrate to the West with visa procedures which are already cumbersome anyway? There are also LGBTs among these people. The only ‘genuine’ instrument of enforcing changes in Ukraine is not a visa facilitation agreement but Association Agreement. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to sign it during the Vilnius Summit. Also with regard to this issue.

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A few questions on memorandum

Posted by Marek Siwiec MEP on 08/04/13

The government and its representatives give inconsistent statements on so called Yamal II. What is known for sure is the fact that a memorandum has been signed and that its impact is contrary to national interest. All the other issues might be subject to interpretation.

They say that the memorandum is not significant. Then why has it been signed? Why the Polish President called to Kiev to calm his Ukrainian partner down? Who knew that the document had been prepared and would be signed? And if noone had known that, then who should have known?

If the Prime Minister did not answer to at least one of these questions quickly, he would become suspected of political tricks or lack of competency.

Finally, one more issue. The whole action took place the day before Lutsenko release. The question arises whether the memorandum was supposed to help this complicated operation or if it could have actually undermined it.

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