The British press is enthusiastically reporting that Poland is one step closer to leaving the European Union, but it’s just not true.
I read today in the British papers that Poland is “gearing up to leave the EU” and “follow in the footsteps of Brexit in a move that could spark the collapse of Brussels”. I have little to no respect for the press in the United Kingdom, so it should have come as no surprise to me that the papers would get something so incredibly wrong.
The report took claims by the European Coalition that Law and Justice were leading the country closer to an exit from the European Union. Grzegorz Schetyna of the Civic Platform – part of the European Coalition (KE) – referred to a choice between a “strong, rich, democratic Poland in a strong Europe” or what Poland sees today, a “party state, on its way to leave the EU”.
I have reported recently on tensions between the EU and Poland, and even unfair treatment of Poland and other Eastern European states by EU leaders, but I don’t for a moment believe that PiS is plotting POLEXIT. With Law and Justice facing a very real threat from the dodgy left-wing deal made by the European Coalition in the upcoming May elections, it would be electoral suicide to suggest a policy so overwhelmingly unpopular in Poland.
An opinion poll in 2018 found that only 17% of Polish people supported leaving the European Union. Is the British press so lazy that they are unable to find this data? Or are they simply unwilling to do the work?
I understand that shocking headlines like this get clicks, but misleading headlines like this help nobody. Brexit-leaning papers might like the idea of Poland leaving the EU, but even as a Brexiteer I accept that’s unlikely to happen any time soon.