Opinion: nobody thinks of common people in Poland, as behind-the-scenes games are in full swing there

Strikes of Polish truckers who block the border and cargo transportation, when just very few cars are allowed to pass through, are widely covered in the media, and statements are already made that this is a long-lasting game. In his talk with Alfa Radio, the Adviser-Envoy of the Embassy of Belarus in Russia, Aleksandr Shpakovsky, commented on the topic.  

“The so-called Polish economic miracle is a soap bubble, and we are now observing how it is gradually turning into nothing – that is, the carriage is turning into a pumpkin, and Mr. Duda [President of Poland] from the field marshal, and Poland from the once formidable country turning into the usual state of gentry outlaws. There is political uncertainty in Poland. It is unclear who won the elections there, and how the government coalition will be formed. Dirty behind-the-scenes games are in full swing in the country, and they deal with the financial encouragement for the Sejm deputies to move from one camp to another," Mr. Shpakovsky noted. “It is interesting to observe all this, but there is definitely no desire to participate in it in any way. It is all too sticky and unpleasant. Naturally, the common people in this case are the last to think about. Those who think are probably mostly doing this in the context of certain electoral campaigns – speculating on how to attract a certain target group and take advantage of its mood to come to political power.”

Mr. Shpakovsky believes this gives grounds for a protest mood to emerge. “The Polish economy is going through hard times today. The loan money – ‘helicopter’ money, as our President called it, which the ruling PiS party extracted from various sources – is now not playing in favour of the Polish economy. I would not say that the situation is catastrophic there, but it is still quite alarming, and some social groups, especially people engaged in agriculture, feel it most of all. We understand that, no matter how Poland played it cool, nevertheless, its industry was very dependent on Russian energy carriers, and the market of the Eurasian Union countries was significant for this country,” he said.

According to the expert, Poles continue cutting Belarus’ export supplies, but their goods are still present in the republic. “It is a manifestation of the Belarusian policy of good neighbourliness, our asymmetric responses. However, I do not undertake to give estimates, though I would like to say that we also have the opportunity to mirror Polish decisions. In this case, the situation will unfortunately worsen even more for the ordinary workers who actually produce these goods and hope the authorities will promote their sale and create conditions for people’s decent life – rather than generating an unacceptable situation that may subsequently cause a protest mood,” Mr. Shpakovsky noted.

The expert added that he knows first-hand about certain processes taking place among the Polish political circles: i.e. tempting the deputies over to the ruling party, “However, the fact that documents are burned in certain Polish departments (Polish media reports on this as part of the processes of information confrontation and political struggle) is of special importance. We also know of the revealed visa fraud, theft during the construction of a fence on the border, election fraud, usurpation of judicial power, murder of refugees in the border area… There are obvious facts, and I think there are also facts of spying, wiretapping of political opponents, and corruption. All this is now being hidden behind the scenes. Therefore, it would be right from the point of view of people's civil control for the striking truckers and farmers to visit these ministries and departments, and, importantly, to prevent the destruction of possible evidence of illegal activities of the current Polish government.”