Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party just announced its willingness to launch a special commission which is to investigate the energy policies pursued by the country from 2007 to 2022, with a special emphasis on how the Kremlin influenced it.

The establishment of such a commission was announced by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński. Poland’s ruling coalition has repeatedly criticised the liberal PO-PSL government, which ruled between 2007 and 2015. The latter has been repeatedly accused of having conducted a pro-Kremlin policy, neglecting thereby Poland’s interests. 

“We must be aware of how it came to be that unfavourable contracts were signed, which led to dependence on Russia and importing more raw materials from it” – Morawiecki explained. He insisted on the importance of this undertaking for Poland’s security. He also underlined the need to “get rid of Russian leftovers once and for all”.

Jarosław Kaczyński stressed that the planned commission would be given greater powers than a regular parliamentary one. It would be composed of experts from outside parliament, among others. 

On Sunday, Minister of Agriculture Janusz Kowalski, a member of United Poland (SP) – PiS’s junior coalition partner – referred to the period between 16 November 2007 and 22 September 2014 as “2,502 days of Donald Tusk’s […] ruthlessly pro-Russian, pro-Putin policy”.

The announced commission will be empowered to overturn what has been described as “decisions made under Russian influence.” It could result in banning officials from receiving security clearance and taking positions involving the spending of public funds for up to a decade. 

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In the midst of the criticism which followed the announcement of the planned commission, Poland’s  Deputy Minister of Interior and Administration Paweł Szefernaker (PiS) told Trójka that the commission, taking into account the years 2007-2022, would not exclusively focus on the previous government. “It is important to show that this is a matter of many terms of office of the Polish Parliament”, – he insisted. 

Image: Unsplash

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen