• The second round of the Polish presidential election was held on 1st June. The results are:
 Karol Nawrocki – PiS: 10,606,877 votes cast, i.e. 50.89% of the voters; 
 Rafal Trzaskowski – KO: 10,237,286 votes cast, i.e. 49.11% of the voters.
 
• The presidency therefore remains with the PiS. Knowing that the president has a right of veto over all government decisions, Karol Nawrocki had the personalities supporting him sign an eight-point declaration:
 
"- I will not sign any invoice that would increase taxes, contributions, royalties or introduce new tax charges. 
 I will not sign any law restricting the movement of cash and I will protect the Polish zloty. 
 I will not sign any law restricting the freedom to express opinions that are in line with the Polish Constitution. 
 I will not allow Polish soldiers to be sent to Ukrainian territory. 
 I will not sign a law on the ratification of Ukraine’s membership in NATO. 
 I will not sign any law restricting the access of Poles to weapons. 
 I will not accept the transfer of competences from the authorities of the Republic of Poland to the bodies of the European Union. 
 I will not sign the ratification of new EU treaties that weaken Poland’s role, for example by weakening its voting rights or removing the right of veto."
 
☞ The Polish population remains marked by the disappearance of the country, four times in its history (the last time, during World War II). It is divided between those who fear Russia the most and those who fear Germany the most. In practice, the majority of Poles are therefore betting on... the United States.
 
They perceive the "European Union" as a German project; Prime Minister Donald Tusk has even been described as a "German agent" by Karol Nawrocki; it is true that Donald Tusk is a childhood friend of Angela Merkel to whom he owes his entire political career. A small majority of Poles would therefore prefer the "Three Seas Initiative" (i.e. Jozef Pilsudski’s Promethean project, the Intermarium, a continuation of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations, consisting of Poland and Lithuania).
 
☞ Added to this is the trauma of the massacres carried out during and before World War II by the Ukrainian "integral nationalists" now in power in Kiev. In addition to their leader Stepan Bandera assassinating Polish Minister of the Interior Bronisław Pieracki, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) tried to ethnically cleanse Volhynia by massacring at least 100,000 Polish civilians.
 
Poles are therefore divided over the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. On the one hand, they are in solidarity with the Ukrainians in the face of a Russian "invasion", on the other hand, they largely share the Russian fear of the Nazis’ collaborators (cf. VIN 2920). The commemoration of the Volhynia massacres has therefore become a state affair, especially since Ukraine refuses to participate.

This is the editorial from our paywalled "Voltaire, international newsletter", n°136. For more information, do not hesitate to subscribe: 500€ per year.

Translation
Gregor Fröhlich