‘Poland is back’: Brussels greets election result

BRUSSELS: After years of tensions over Warsaw´s perceived democratic backsliding, Brussels on Monday trumpeted the apparent victory of Poland´s pro-EU opposition in a weekend election.

“Poland is back,” declared Manfred Weber, the head of the European People´s Party, the biggest grouping in the European Parliament, in Strasbourg.

The applause that met echoed relief in other EU institutions as they contemplated a changed political direction for the bloc´s sixth-biggest economy, away from the nationalist/populist lines espoused by the outgoing government, which had openly defied Brussels on several issues.

As vote-counting was continuing in Poland, the European Commission struck a more prudent tone in keeping with its role as executive for the bloc. With more than 80 percent of votes tallied, the nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS) was the party in the lead after the election, but without a majority, taking 37 percent.