Polish MEP: “We contest this societal model which negates the identity of Western European people”

Marek Jurek is a conservative representative for Poland in the European Parliament. In the following French-language interview with TV Libertés he discusses EU attempts to impose migrant quotas on member states in Central Europe, and other topics of interest.

Many thanks to Ava Lon for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript:

00:41   Marek Jurek, thank you for agreeing to this interview. We are at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
00:45   You are a Polish European representative, and a former president of the Polish Parliament.
00:49   Could you please tell us a couple of words about yourself for our audience?
00:53   For our French-speaking audience, which perhaps doesn’t know you
00:58   very well. —Yes. I started my political work
01:02   at the end of the seventies;
01:06   it was completely different at that time. It was a movement of young Poles,
01:10   a secret movement, the first movement of Catholic youth,
01:14   a right-wing political movement; and now here
01:19   to jump to the end of my work: I working on the commission
01:23   of the exterior, the commission of civil liberties,
01:27   the commission for defense; I am a member
01:31   of the conservative group in Poland; I preside
01:35   at the Right of the Republic — it’s a Catholic party
01:39   of the independent right; which is called in France the “other right”.
01:43   But you are nevertheless more or less associated with PiS [Law and Justice party];
01:47   how come? You were elected from the common list, I think? — We were
01:51   in coalition; our colleges from PiS
01:55   preferred to work alone, so
02:00   we are an independent party, but of course we defend
02:04   all the good initiatives by the government when it is attacked by
02:08   the liberal opposition and by foreign institutions, of course.
02:12   You mention the EU, among other things
02:16   the PiS government, which when elected at the end of 2015 was very strongly criticized
02:20   by the EU; there were even quite hysterical debates in the European Parliament.
02:24   The liberal opposition is also pretty hysterical. They blocked
02:28   the Parliament for several weeks, the Polish Parliament. So how do you
02:33   see all those attacks against the initiatives
02:37   of the new Polish government? —I think
02:41   the Polish government was attacked in the same way
02:45   that last year the Hungarian government [was attacked], because
02:49   the liberal establishment, left wing liberal,
02:53   of the EU doesn’t accept the right wing governments of Central Europe,
02:57   because for us the first societal priority
03:02   was: to change society after a long
03:06   period of communist slavery. Because
03:10   the countries that were part of
03:14   the free world after WW2, often consider communism
03:18   an authoritarian regime, a political dictatorship.
03:22   This is absolutely false: because it was a totalitarian system
03:26   that completely wrecked life of society
03:30   and that destroyed old organisms
03:34   of the social communities, replacing them with false elites
03:39   by a dominant class, which, in the end, as we say,
03:43   changed the ID of the communist party
03:47   into a control at the dentist [word play lost in translation]; membership in the communist party
03:51   into membership in the board of directors
03:55   of big companies. So, in Hungary,
03:59   in Poland, in many other countries of
04:04   Central Europe, we need to change society deeply, for example by reestablishing free speech:
04:12   the real condition of public debate. Because with the concentration of the media
04:20   of the same type, that is completely
04:24   tied to the liberal establishment
04:28   of the Left, we didn’t have the conditions
04:32   for a true debate, for the criticism of the government, for example, or for
04:36   defending the government if we won the elections.
04:41   So the measures
04:45   taken by the Hungarian government were totally
04:49   Legitimate, and, in the name of free speech,
04:53   they should have to be supported by Western countries.
04:57   Unfortunately, they were attacked. It was similar with the change
05:01   in Poland, because Polish people decided
05:05   to change the government, to break up with
05:09   the liberal system,
05:14   Decided to turn the country towards conservative values,
05:18   towards the reinforcement of our sovereignty.
05:22   And it’s not only the question of
05:26   the choice of the Law and Justice party. Because
05:30   it’s not only a question of the PiS government.
05:34   Because this trend of change, represented for example by the movement of
05:38   Paweł Kukiz, who won three million votes
05:43   in the presidential election and over a million in the
05:47   parliamentary elections. The list of Mr. [unintelligible]and Mikke
05:51   and others, so the big majority of
05:55   the country voted for the right. And of course
05:59   it was totally contested by
06:03   the EU establishment,
06:07   the liberal establishment of the majority
06:12   of the countries of the Western Europe. —Exactly
06:16   this non-liberal turn, to use the expression used by Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán,
06:20   that we saw a little later in Poland, was it
06:24   precisely the symbol of the failure of liberalism,
06:28   of the opening to capitalism in the countries former members of the Warsaw Pact,
06:32   and also the symbol of the failure of the promises
06:36   of the adhesion to the EU, since those countries
06:41   hoped, Poland and the others, hoped for a better standard of living
06:45   and so on, and in the end the balance sheet isn’t that good? — We are very
06:49   attached to our freedom, to freedom in all the areas.
06:53   Freedom of speech, political freedom, especially
06:57   economic freedom; now freedom alone
07:01   is the foundation of common good, because all the…
07:05   everybody… every community that belongs to the EU
07:09   national community has to be the owner of its own freedom.
07:14   Liberalism rather negates the common good.
07:18   Therefore our choice
07:22   was a choice of sovereignty and the rejection of
07:26   permanent intrusion, interference from the EU
07:30   on the direction of our policies, in areas such as, for example,
07:34   immigration, because a for the last couple of months before the elections
07:38   we witnessed a constant pressure
07:43   to impose the migration policy, not only the migration policy,
07:47   but also the multicultural model that was forced on the people
07:51   of Western Europe, also on our country and other countries
07:55   of Central Europe. Of course
07:59   it’s the choice of the natural law of defense of
08:03   the values of life, of family, that are totally
08:07   not only questioned but negated, for example
08:12   by the institution of the EU,
08:16   and of course, as I said, it was rejection of
08:20   post-communism, so the choice of the social change
08:24   that has to reinforce the freedom of Polish people. So it wasn’t our rejection of liberalism,
08:32   it was the rejection of a system
08:37   that has no mandate, especially not in our country,
08:41   to bring up the values of freedom, because
08:45   it represents rather a domination
08:49   By the establishment talking about freedom,
08:53   when it wants to destroy the natural community,
08:57   the sovereign competency of the state,
09:01   or the principal of natural law.
09:05   And we are the ones defending freedom.
09:10   Exactly. Last year there was a lot of talk about the law that was in fact
09:14   a citizen initiative, to make access to abortion more difficult,
09:18   finally it was rejected by the government, it made a lot of noise,
09:22   perhaps even more in the international press
09:26   than in Poland, I don’t know; how do you see
09:30   the blow which was delivered against this project? — I think that
09:34   protection of life is necessary for every society, because it is
09:38   the first of our freedoms:
09:43   The freedom to be born.
09:47   Because all life starts with
09:51   conception,
09:55   but it is conditioned by the act of birth
09:59   Therefore the defense of the unborn baby
10:03   is a movement and a legal solution necessary
10:07   for a civilized society.
10:12   And of course it’s a negation of the today’s barbarism, but it’s morally necessary.
10:20   Concerning the Right of the Republic party, we were totally in solidarity
10:24   with the initiative Stop Abortion,
10:28   with their popular initiative, and we are very disappointed
10:32   that unfortunately the majority of our politicians,
10:36   raised under the pressure of the EU Parliament
10:41   and of the foreign pressure at the same time, that they surrendered
10:45   before that black revolution that was organized
10:49   in Poland. And I think that unfortunately
10:53   the beginning of this failure was in the realm
10:57   of ideas, because many politicians said that
11:01   The question of the right to live
11:06   was a very important demand but
11:10   Concerned the individual conscience,
11:14   the subjective individual conscience.
11:18   We’re convinced that it’s a question of
11:22   the clear disposition of every healthy conscience,
11:26   so unfortunately… we should have defended life,
11:30   and not surrendered before that revolution supported
11:34   by foreign countries, but the fight isn’t over, because
11:39   we will carry on, since Poland resisted
11:43   the civilization of the death since 1956, when the abortion law
11:47   was imposed by the communists in our country.
11:51   So another subject that causes talk about Poland is the migration question,
11:55   with the questions of quotas for the settlement of migrants and so on,
11:59   which in fact reinforced or almost re-launched the Visegrad Group
12:03   the association among Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary that had been
12:08   almost non-existent for the last couple of years. What perspectives
12:12   do you see for cooperation between those four countries of Central Europe?
12:16   I think that we have efficiently blocked that
12:20   policy of administrative distribution
12:24   of immigrants to different European countries. It’s very clear now that unfortunately
12:32   this migratory flow was inspired by politicians
12:36   from Germany, from the EU,
12:41   because for example the declaration by Mr. Juncker, the president of the
12:45   European Commission, who said many times that we have to open
12:49   the legal routes for migration,
12:53   that we have to prepare those routes,
12:57   it was a sort of promise
13:01   to legalize illegal immigration.
13:05   So it was certainly the inspiration for those wretched people
13:10   to be manipulated and used by
13:14   the illegal immigration mafia,
13:18   this great business in Libya,
13:22   in other countries, which we are now sure
13:26   is often also manipulated by the Islamic State,
13:30   the Caliphate of the Islamic State; so it’s also
13:35   a very serious danger to European security.
13:39   But generally I think that we should always
13:43   live with a spirit of compassion,
13:47   but also of responsibility. Because those people were
13:51   encouraged in that illegal immigration,
13:55   which was inspired by the establishment in the dominant countries
13:59   in Europe, and by the direction of the EU.
14:03   Fortunately the governments of the Central European countries,
14:08   especially the four countries of the Visegrad Group,
14:12   we organized an efficient resistance
14:16   up till now, against that policy of
14:20   administrative protection, of multiculturalism.
14:24   We never contest
14:28   individual immigration, because those are individual cases.
14:33   We contest this societal model,
14:37   which negates the identity of Western European people
14:41   that was imposed by the establishment
14:45   of this country. We are — in a very aware way — rejecting this
14:49   societal model. What is interesting in Central Europe is
14:53   that the Visegrad Group countries are today ruled by
14:58   representatives of different European political “families”, because
15:02   in the Czech Republic we have a liberal government, in Slovakia
15:06   a leftist government, in Poland a government
15:10   associated with European Conservative Association,
15:14   in Hungary a Christian Democratic government.
15:18   Those are… this is the entire European political landscape
15:22   from left to right, but who —
15:27   in Central Europe— reject,
15:31   refuse to copy
15:35   this social model which was unfortunately
15:39   recklessly approved in Western Europe.
15:43   I’m saying “recklessly”, because, for example
15:47   I am sure that the current situation
15:51   in France, in Germany was never
15:55   the object of a democratic vote. It was an evolution
16:00   while public opinion was anaesthetized
16:04   for decades. Now we have a situation
16:08   that is extremely difficult for those countries;
16:12   that we understand very well, but we haven’t copied this social model, because
16:16   we have many things to fix in our country, many difficulties
16:20   that still exist, caused by
16:24   our experience of almost half a century of Soviet domination.
16:28   So the last subject that is important for Poland
16:32   in the recent news is the election of Donald Trump in the USA,
16:36   which could potentially have two major influences
16:40   on Poland: that there would be perhaps less intense foreign pressure
16:44   concerning social questions, where the government
16:48   will be willing to start different reforms; the other effect
16:53   on the Polish government is that the future president Trump quite clearly declared that
16:57   he was considering reducing the financial participation of
17:01   the USA in NATO, the system of common defense, and
17:05   giving that relations between Poland and Russia are still very complicated,
17:09   I would like to have your opinion concerning the prospects we can perhaps expect for Poland,
17:13   also in the case of relations between Europe and Russia,
17:18   as a result of the election of Mr Trump. —Of course
17:22   what happened in America is analogous with
17:26   the changes in Poland and in Hungary, because it was a fall of the progressive establishment,
17:34   which was rejected by the people
17:38   in favor of conservative values. If it’s about the personal presidential policy
17:42   of the new American president, it’s always an open question.
17:47   You asked about our activity in
17:55   the context of NATO: We are one of four
17:59   European countries whose
18:03   financial contributions
18:07   are proportional in terms of defense, so
18:11   I am sure that we will keep
18:15   strong ties — in the area of defense —
18:20   with the United States concerning
18:24   the demands that other countries contribute more
18:28   for the common defense, which are totally understandable.
18:32   Concerning the Russian question, it’s —
18:36   we will see, it’s the country that annexed Crimea.
18:40   It’s a situation with no precedent
18:44   in Europe, at least in Continental Europe. After being —
18:48   after a second war… no, Kosovo was a separation;
18:53   it was a separation I was against.
18:57   I was partisan for absolutely keeping
19:01   the disposition of the decision of the UN
19:05   for the autonomy of Kosovo, and not for proclaiming it an independent state…
19:09   but what happened in Kosovo was a pretext
19:13   for the Russian invasion of Georgia,
19:17   which created satellite political organisms.
19:22   But Crimea is an annexation.
19:26   We mentioned the invasion of Georgia.
19:30   We are watching Moldova
19:34   the Dniester region. So Russia is a country that
19:38   didn’t approved of the political consequences of the disappearance of the Soviet Union.
19:42   President Putin declared, “It was the greatest political tragedy
19:47   of the 20th century”: the fall of the Evil Empire.
19:51   So I think that we need to still
19:55   stay in solidarity and show caution
19:59   towards Russia, but this week we present
20:03   with my friend Ujazdowski our initiative in the Polish press
20:07   addressing also the new American policy.
20:11   We expect
20:16   from the United States of America
20:20   either an efficient military solidarity, or initiatives that would diminish
20:28   Russian military pressure on Poland: for example the talks about
20:36   the demilitarization of the region of Königsberg,
20:40   Królewiec, which is called Kaliningrad
20:44   in Russian. But our ministry,
20:49   our liberal government
20:53   decided that in our diplomatic language use
20:57   we wouldn’t the name Kaliningrad,
21:01   because Kalinin was one of the signatories
21:05   of the decision concerning the massacre [of 5000 Polish officers in WW2] at Katyń.
21:09   So we don’t think he was a person who deserves
21:13   to be commemorated in the name of an important European town. But I think that we need to talk.
21:22   This region is a part of Russia, but the density
21:26   of military forces, or even the possibility
21:30   of using the nuclear weapons in that region,
21:34   is a great danger, not only for our region, but also for
21:38   European security. So we think that we need to either defend
21:42   Central Europe against Russian pressure, or
21:47   talk with Russians concerning the decrease
21:51   of military pressure on our region, because
21:55   our national aspiration, for half a century, when
21:59   we resisted communist domination,
22:03   was independence and peace, and we
22:07   want simply live in peace and security.
22:11   So you are a proponent of dialogue with Russia, and not
22:16   of an escalation, never-ending conflict, of tension.
22:20   What do you think, how could a balanced dialogue be established,
22:24   that could also satisfy
22:28   Aspirations for the defense of Poland? —We expect from Russia
22:32   an acceptance of the independence
22:36   of the states that were born after
22:40   the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
22:44   Because if Russia doesn’t want
22:49   to be identified with the Soviet Union,
22:53   it has to break with this illegitimate legacy
22:57   of the Empire that was
23:01   a prison of peoples.
23:05   I think that in Europe we have to be unanimous
23:09   concerning this topic. —Thank you. —Thank you.
 

19 thoughts on “Polish MEP: “We contest this societal model which negates the identity of Western European people”

  1. EACH RELIGION IS THE CONTROL SYSTEM OF ITS SOCIETY. A PRIMITIVE VIOLENT SOCIETY CREATES A PRIMITIVE VIOLENT RELIGION. ISLAM IS THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION OF MUHAMMAD, A NOTORIOUS EPILEPTIC, ACCORDING TO SUCH MEN AS JEAN DE MANDEVILLE, GABRIEL NAUDÉ, ALOYS SPRENGER, FRANK FREEMON, ABBAS SADEGHIAN AND PIERRE BAYLE. A MADMAN ACCORDING TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS POLYMATH MAIMONIDES. ALOYS SPRENGER EVEN RELATES MORE THAN TWELVE ARAB REFERENCES CONCERNING THE SEIZURES OF MUHAMMAD.
    TOUTE RELIGION EST LE SYSTÈME DE CONTRÔLE DE SA SOCIÉTÉ. À SOCIÉTÉ PRIMITIVE VIOLENTE, RELIGION PRIMITIVE VIOLENTE. L’ISLAM EST LA RELIGION PRIMITIVE DE MAHOMET, UN ÉPILEPTIQUE NOTOIRE, SELON JEAN DE MANDEVILLE, GABRIEL NAUDÉ, ALOYS SPRENGER, FRANK FREEMON, ABBAS SADEGHIAN ET PIERRE BAYLE. UN FOU SELON L’ILLUSTRE SAVANT MOÏSE MAÏMONIDE. ALOYS SPRENGER CITE MÊME PLUS D’UNE DOUZAINE DE SOURCES ARABES SUR LES CRISES DE MAHOMET.
    WARNING TO EUROPE
    ONCE YOU ACCEPT ANY ASPECT OF ISLAM, YOU MUST ACCEPT ITS LEGAL SYSTEM, AND ONCE YOU ACCEPT THAT, YOU MUST ACCEPT ITS GOVERNANCE, AND ONCE YOU ACCEPT THAT, YOU LOSE THEN ALL YOUR RIGHTS. BECAUSE EACH RELIGION IS THE CONTROL SYSTEM OF ITS SOCIETY, EACH RELIGION REFLECTS ITS SOCIETY LIKE A MIRROR, ON THIS EARTH, OR EVEN IN THE FUTURE, IN OUR GALAXY. HENCE THE FACT THAT PRIMITIVE AND VIOLENT ONES ARE FAR MORE DANGEROUS THAN EVOLVED ONES, IT IS ONLY THE SAD REALITY. WE MUST DEFEND OURSELVES AGAINST THE MORE PRIMITIVE ONES, OR WE WILL DISAPPEAR. BECAUSE HISTORY, SINCE THE ASSASSINATION OF ARCHIMEDES, PROVES THAT THE VIOLENCE COMES ALWAYS FROM THE LOWER IQ.
    AVERTISSEMENT À L’EUROPE
    LORSQUE VOUS ACCEPTEZ QUELQUE PARTIE DE L’ISLAM, VOUS DEVEZ ACCEPTER SON SYSTÈME JURIDIQUE, ET CELA FAIT, VOUS DEVEZ ACCEPTER SA GOUVERNANCE, ET CELA FAIT, VOUS PERDEZ ALORS TOUS VOS DROITS. CAR CHAQUE RELIGION EST LE SYSTÈME DE CONTRÔLE DE SA SOCIÉTÉ, CHAQUE RELIGION REFLÈTE SA SOCIÉTÉ COMME UN MIROIR, SUR CETTE PLANÈTE, OU MÊME DANS LE FUTUR, DANS NOTRE GALAXIE. D’OÙ LE FAIT QUE LES SOCIÉTÉS PRIMITIVES ET VIOLENTES SONT INFINIMENT PLUS DANGEREUSES QUE LES SOCIÉTÉS ÉVOLUÉES, C’EST SEULEMENT LA TRISTE VÉRITÉ. NOUS DEVONS NOUS DÉFENDRE CONTRE LES SOCIÉTÉS LES PLUS PRIMITIVES, SOUS PEINE DE DISPARAÎTRE. CAR L’HISTOIRE, DEPUIS L’ASSASSINAT D’ARCHIMÈDE, PROUVE QUE LA VIOLENCE VIENT TOUJOURS DU QI INFÉRIEUR.

    • I guess you must be a two finger only typist?

      Your post would have been easier on the eyes if it had been in paragraph form, but your message has certainly resonated with me.

      And in reply; Nous devons tous etre en garde!

      • Nemesis, you know better: this is an English language website. If it hadn’t been up so long and were I not so tired, I’d have deleted the comment.

        • Please don’t, because it gives an understanding of the angst that others are certainly feeling in a language of their own.

          I don’t mind translating for my own needs, maybe others could look up the internet for their translations?

  2. he might be right in everything he says here, but you need to know, that mr.Jurek is a Catholic equivalent of the Taliban. he’s anti gay, pro church, he voted to impose teaching religion in public schools. when an underage rape victim was about to have a resulting pregnancy aborted, he organised protests to try to stop that. he’s not a good role model.

    and this is part of the problem: no reasonable political center. we get to choose between far-right with their religious bigotry, and far-left with the religious fanatics they support.

    • At some point in your thinking, you must assess which is worse, the Taliban with its 1400 years of terror or the Church of Rome, with its dying adherence?

      I know which system I would be choosing for my own longevity.

    • We live in a time or extremes. The center cannot hold – in fact, there is no center anymore. So you get to choose your bigotry, hoping it is less damaging than the other side’s bigotry. You don’t have to like it, though. Would I prefer this Jurek’s ideas to those of the 32-gendered, essentially useless fragile snowflakes? Yes, but I don’t like it.

    • But that depends what you mean by center. Right now the center moved so much to the left that the former middle is present-day right.
      As of Mr. Jurek he is not even close to the Taliban. He does not likes gay marriages, so what is wrong with that? Do you mean that everyone has to be FOR gay marriages? But he does not say “kill gays” like the Taliban does. You also tell us that he is for catholic church. My question to you is “What is wrong with that?” Would you claim that it is wrong to be for Orthodox Judaism? I am sure you would not say that. So what is wrong if someone is for Catholic faith?.

      • I agree. There is nothing wrong with a society which is held together by Catholicism. It’s a foundation of healthy, strong Christian values. And yes, in such a society certain things like gay marriage, or abortion wouldn’t be allowed, but who’s to say that would be a shortcoming for a society?

        I don’t see how a reasonable political center should be a goal for any society. You can make compromises and concessions on little things but there has to be a core that never gets compromised otherwise what do the people really have to hold on to?

        A society based on reasonableness and a middle of the road approach is going to drift in the wind and be susceptible to all kinds of nonsense and moral sickness. There has to be an anchor there somewhere. I’m not arguing on behalf of Catholicism above other choices, only that it is one of the good choices.

    • I get the feeling that the Taliban would not just protest the rape victim’s abortion – but would actively want to punish her… for adultery!

      Also that the Taliban would not just be “anti-gay”… but would actively be throwing them off tall buildings.

      And also that the Taliban would not just be “teaching religion in public schools” – but teaching one religion, hate to all other religions, and explaining the brutal penalties which await for converting to another religion, or for a woman who decides to marry a man of another religion.

      To summarise – if Poland’s “Taliban” are the likes of Marek Jurek, then it can’t be too bad a place to be 🙂

    • It is also mostly in French, a further issue of readability. I guess it just got by. But most people simply skip the ALL CAPS messages. They are supposed to represent great anger – i..e., SCREAMING.

          • Dymphna – Fear not the root canal. The technology is so far beyond what they had in the 70s, it’s barely more now than any other dental procedure. Gone are the jarring pain and rivulets of blood.

          • I’m fortunate in my dentist. He travels world-wide teaching microscopic dentistry. That procedure means he never has patients with post-op problems. Even his hygienists use the technique to clean teeth. They say it’s a learning curve but now they wouldn’t go back.

            For me, the trip in and back is very tiring, but at this time of year, all the redbuds and dogwoods are in bloom and the azaleas are warming up for their turn.

  3. I wonder how the politicians in the West would respond had they been invaded by millions of people who were all atheists, and were intent on spreading their ideology throughout the various Countries that showed them nothing but assistance and kindness, and in return they behaved like uncouth savages with a grand sense of entitlement?

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