The chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Brian Mast, has demanded that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen clarify concerns over the financing of the Polish election campaign of Rafał Trzaskowski.
Trzaskowski is standing as the candidate of the ruling centre-left coalition government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The presidential campaign culminates on June 1 in the second round vote between Trzaskowski and opposition Concervatives (PiS) hopeful Karol Nawrocki.
In the run up to the ballot, online accounts have emerged attacking right-wing presidential candidates Nawrocki and the Confederation party’s Sławomir Mentzen, placed third in the first round, while simultaneously posting content supporting Trzaskowski.
These accounts were reported to have spent sums in excess of €200,000 and, according to published reports in the Polish media, the funding came from sources in Hungary and Belgium.
Mast has written on behalf of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee to von der Leyen to address funding concerns, stating that “such activities taking place should be met by a reaction of the EC if it wishes to avoid being accused of applying double standards with regard to the observance of the rule of law in Poland”.
His letter of May 27 was critical of the positions taken by the EC thus far on the situation in Poland.
“Despite the vocal criticism of the EC and the decision to block [billions] of EU funds for Poland for alleged rule-of-law violations under the previous PiS government, it has remained silent with regard to the actions of the present government despite clear evidence that it is not transgressing in this area,” Mast wrote.
The letter also asked “what role was played by the company Estratos and its shareholders linked to the Democratic Party?” and whether the financing of such activities was in any way connected with funds associated with the US philanthropist and billionaire George Soros.
It also queried what the EC was planning to do about alleged evidence of foreign funding in Poland’s election campaign given it had taken a determined stance in supporting legal action over alleged foreign interference in the Romanian presidential elections last year.
Mast’s letter marked further criticism from the US Republicans over Poland. In April, five members of the US federal judiciary committee wrote to von der Leyen regarding rule-of-law concerns in Poland.
They also targeted what they saw as double standards in the way EU funds were blocked under the PiS government and then promptly released when Tusk’s administration came into office.
Also on May 27, US president Donald Trump’s security secretary Kristi Noem attended a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) in Rzeszów, Poland and endorsed Nawrocki ahead of the decisive second-round vote.
“Donald Trump is a strong leader for us, but you have an opportunity to have just as strong of a leader in Karol [Nawrocki] if you make him the leader of this country,” said Noem.
She pledged to Poles that if they elected “a leader who will work with President Trump, the Polish people will have a strong ally.
“You will continue to have a US military presence here,” Noem added.
Earlier in May, Nawrocki was invited for talks with Washington officials, including a meeting with the US President in the Oval Office.
Trump has long enjoyed close relations with the PiS and Poland’s current PiS-aligned President Andrzej Duda.
Polls had been suggesting the June 1 ballot would be an extremely tight race between Trzaskowski and Nawrocki but the three latest surveys indicated Trzaskowski held a narrow lead, albeit with a significant proportion of voters still undecided.
