Warsaw – The threat of EUR 2.5 billion in EU funding is not enough to prevent the Polish regional parliament from refusing to abandon an anti-LGBTQ+ resolution on Thursday.
Two years ago, the Lesser Poland region in southern Poland passed a resolution against “public activities aimed at promoting the ideology of the LGBT movement”. This is part of a wave of similar resolutions passed by local governments-stimulated by the efforts of senior politicians from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) Party to attack what they call “LGBT ideology.”
This triggered a growing conflict between Warsaw and Brussels. Last month, the European Commission initiated legal proceedings against Poland, claiming that Warsaw had failed to respond appropriately to its investigation into the so-called “LGBT ideological free zone.” Poland must respond by September 15.
On Thursday, after the European Commission notified local authorities that it might prevent some EU funds from flowing to areas that had adopted such a declaration, the opposition members of the Małopolska region asked for a vote to withdraw the declaration. According to Polish media reports, this may mean that Małopolska may not be able to obtain 2.5 billion euros under the EU’s new seven-year budget, and may lose some of its existing funds.
“The committee is not joking,” said Tomasz Urynowicz, deputy speaker of the Lesser Poland Regional Council, who withdrew from PiS in a vote on Thursday, in a statement on Facebook. He supported the original resolution, but changed his position since then.
The chairman of the parliament and the father of Polish President Andrzej Duda said that the sole purpose of the declaration is to “protect the family.”
He said in Thursday’s debate: “Some savages want to deprive us of funds that are vital to a happy family life.” “This is the money we deserve, not some kind of charity.”
Andrzej Duda launched an anti-LGBTQ+ attack during last year’s presidential campaign-this was to attract his core conservative and ultra-Catholic voters.
The resolution also received strong support from the Roman Catholic Church, part of which is closely related to PiS.
“Freedom comes at a price. This price includes honor. Freedom cannot be bought with money,” Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski said in a sermon on Sunday. He also warned of the struggle between the Virgin Mary and her followers against the “neo-Marxist LGBT ideology.”
According to the ILGA-Europe ranking, Poland is the most homophobic country in the European Union. According to the Hate Atlas project, the towns and regions that signed some kind of anti-LGBTQ+ document cover one-third of Poland.
Although the European Commission has not formally linked the payment of EU funds with respect for the EU’s fundamental rights, Brussels said it will find ways to put pressure on countries that discriminate against LGBTQ+ groups.
Last year, six Polish towns that passed anti-LGBTQ+ declarations — Brussels never named them — did not receive additional funding from the committee’s town twinning program.
Urynowicz warned that the committee had been in dialogue with Małopolska for several months and had now issued a warning letter.
He said: “There is specific information that the European Commission plans to use a very dangerous tool that is blocking negotiations on the new EU budget, blocking the current budget, and preventing the EU from funding the promotion of the region.”
According to an internal document sent by POLITICO to the Małopolskie Parliament in July and seen by POLITICO, a committee representative warned the Parliament that such local anti-LGBTQ+ statements could become an argument for the committee to block current cohesion funds and additional funds for promotional activities , And suspended negotiations on the budget to be paid to the region.
The commission’s document stated that the European Commission “sees no reason to invest further from the upcoming budget” to promote culture and tourism in the region, “because the local authorities themselves have worked hard to create an unfriendly image for the Lesser Poles”.
Urynowicz also said on Twitter that the committee notified the conference that the statement meant that negotiations on REACT-EU – additional resources available to EU countries to help the economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic – were put on hold.
The press service of the European Commission emphasized that Brussels has not suspended any funding to Poland under REACT-EU. But it added that EU governments must ensure that funds are used in a non-discriminatory manner.
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Post time: Aug-24-2021