Poles are polarised by constitution vote

Date: 15/05/1997

By Mark Turner

AS POLAND gears up to usher in a new constitution for the post-Communist era, political divisions are crystallising within the EU's largest applicant country.

Later this month, the Polish people will vote on a controversial document which aims to bring them into the modern world and pave the way for EU and NATO membership. But while polls suggest the draft constitution will be broadly supported by the electorate on 25 May, it has polarised the country's political élite.

The referendum follows seven years of bitter negotiations and will be a telling indicator of the balance between the ruling left coalition and the resurgent, Conservative and more Eurosceptic right wing.

Warsaw is currently run by left- wing president Aleksander Kwasniewski and a coalition led by Prime

Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoscewicz of ex-Communists and the Polish Peasant Party.

Opposing it is a loose alliance of smaller right-wing parties, many of which are excluded from parliament by Poland's 5&percent; qualification threshold but stand a fair chance of winning power in this autumn's general election.

These are led by the AWS, heir to the trade union movement Solidarity, and the dirigiste and increasingly Eurosceptic 'Movement for the reconstruction of Poland'. Both stand alongside Poland's influential and highly conservative church.

Jan Truszczynski, the country's ambassador to the Union, says the draft constitution, which stresses the separation of powers, redefines the presidency's role and guarantees Polish citizens a number of civil and social rights, is also “the first constitution which creates a clear and transparent link between domestic and international law, and addresses the issue of Poland's entry into the EU”.

But the right criticises the document on a number of fronts. In its preamble, the draft refers to “all citizens of the republic, both those believing in God as the source of truth, justice, goodness and beauty, as well as those not sharing that faith”. Some bishops, condemning this concession to atheists as an instrument of Communism, have called upon Poles to vote with their conscience and stop the spiritual rot.

Opponents also attack provisions allowing Poland to hand over sovereignty to international bodies, seen by the government as crucial for EU accession.

While mainstream right-wing politicians favour Polish membership of NATO, they stress the need for very careful negotiations on joining the EU and long transition periods. Any loss of sovereignty is suspect.

This ties in with the stance of ecclesiastical extremists that EU membership will usher in a new era of satanic consumerism and eternal damnation.

Such opposition should not be underestimated. The Catholic church was a crucial element in Poland's escape from Communism in the 1980s and holds particular sway over the rural population, already fearful of the impact of EU agricultural policy on small farmers.