Following on from Greg Hands’ post yesterday, it is worth noting that the lower house of the Polish parliament (Sjem) continues its debate on the Treaty of Lisbon today, and it would be a perfect opportunity for the Polish Parliament to kill off the Treaty. It is in the interests of democracy that the Bill implementing this Treaty in Poland is stopped.
Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, knows that the Treaty needs a two-thirds majority to go through both Houses of Parliament, and must now be aware that the implementing Bill and the Treaty do not guarantee Poland's exemptions from the Treaty’s provisions or its associated Charter of Fundamental Rights.
By my estimation, the Civic Platform needs 306 votes in the 460 seats of the Sjem to pass this Treaty. Without the two thirds majority, this Bill cannot go anywhere. Even if Tusk’s Civic Platform could gather all 31 votes from the Polish Peasants Party, all 53 seats from the Left and Democrats list, the 1 seat from the German Minority and another 12 seats from the Law and Justice Party, why would the Polish Parliament push through a Treaty which stands directly against the wishes of the Polish people?
In the interests of democracy, Tusk should reject this Treaty and reassert the democratic wishes of the people. To implement this Treaty through undemocratic methods would be to lead the Polish people back into the draconian ways of the Eastern bloc. The people don’t want it for a very good reason: it is bad for modern Poland and it is bad for Europe.
