No special privileges for the German minority in Poland

The small radical right-wing party in Poland's governing coalition, the League of Polish Families (LPR), has submitted a motion to parliament to abolish the special privileges of the country's German minority. It is demanding that the lists of election candidates for national minorities should have to meet the five-percent hurdle that applies to all the other parties. This means that Poles of German origin would probably lose their two members of parliament. Jacek Rakowiecki attacks the populist government coalition's anti-German policies. "It's becoming clearer every day that the governing coalition has no kind of concept for Polish foreign policy. It doesn't know how it should talk to the EU, Russia and Germany, and what it should say. It only plays the foreign card in the domestic political game and provokes conflicts aimed at winning the support of the Poles with xenophobia and nationalism – under the guise of independence and patriotism… If this continues, Poland will eventually be marginalised in Europe and in transatlantic relations."

» full article (external link, Polish)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Minorities, » Poland