"There is more than ever instability, tension, and uncertainty."

During today’s State of the Union 2023 debate with Ursula von der Leyen, ECR Group Co-Chair Prof Ryszard Legutko sharply criticised the Commission President. Legutko rejected von der Leyen’s portrayal of her tenure as a success story. Legutko said: “To paraphrase Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Something is rotten in the state of the union. There is more than ever instability, tension, and uncertainty.”

According to Legutko, it is often forgotten that the European Commission is one of the main institutions responsible for foreign policy, domestic policy and the economic crises in which Europe finds itself today. Von der Leyen, for example, interferes far too much in the interests of the Member States, even to the point of partisanship in national elections. The engagement with Ukraine is commendable, but the negative effects of failed migration policies and the Green Deal are being felt by citizens on a daily basis. Legutko also took issue with the Commission’s impositions on some member states in the area of the rule of law. According to Legutko, the Commission itself bends the law and redefines concepts when it suits it. “The Commission should stop juggling with the legal bases, claiming, for instance, that taxes are not taxes but contributions, thus sidestepping the necessary procedures. And perhaps start by providing all the documents relevant to the vaccine deal, including the text messages,” Legutko said.

Prof Legutko’s speech reads in full:

“Madame President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

“Is the EU in better shape today than fifteen years ago? The answer is emphatic no. To paraphrase Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Something is rotten in the state of the union. There is more than ever instability, tension, and uncertainty. To quote a recent issue of the Economist: “Inflation remains hot … Officials are increasingly worried by the cloudy growth outlook. … the bloc is facing recession.

“It is your credit, Madame President, that you initiated the sanctions against Russia. But again, one cannot be all too happy. Before the invasion, the Commission did not dare to do something about the German-Russian energy alliance. Through this refusal to act, the Commission bears some responsibility for the depth of the energy crisis.

“The migration policy has been a failure. Despite the Commission’s hustle and bustle and rhetoric, the people smuggling business is thriving, and the disintegration of the social fabric continues. In Western Europe, the number of thefts, robberies, and rapes has soared – about thirty rapes for one hundred thousand inhabitants in France and Belgium, compared to less than two in my country.

“The Green deal, the Commission’s flagship, instead of being a vehicle of growth, is a costly extravaganza, over 300 billion euros by 2030, with rising living costs, energy bills, and other unpleasant aspects of the Commission’s and the parliament’s fantasies. The Commission has been unsurprisingly silent on this matter. The last sinister fantasy is the nature restoration law. The curator of these harmful reveries, Mr Timmermans, has taken a convenient exit and seeks his luck in national politics. I hope the Dutch voters will give him what he deserves.

“Another financial extravaganza has been the common debt of 800 billion euros by 2026. We already know that the predictions were erroneous. The cost of all this will be at least twice as high. The EU budget is in shambles: minus 66 billion euros as of today. You apparently calculated that the markets would have more trust in the financial credibility of the EU, than that of the member states. Unfortunately, you mistook the EU propaganda for the real thing.

“And finally, politics. When I compare the past Commission with yours, I see a continuous slide towards oligarchy with a growing disregard for any restraints the treaties stipulated. The Commission turned into a partisan machine, meddling in national politics, trying to topple the governments they don’t like. You, yourself, Madame President, threatened the Italian voters before the elections. Let me quote you: “If things go in a difficult direction, we have tools”. Let me remind you: you don’t have any tools to interfere with the democratic process of the nation-state. Mr Lukashenko has such tools, you don’t.

“You made the rule of law a caricature. There is an old proverb: Physician, heal thyself. Heal thyself, Madame President: for one thing, let the Commission stop juggling with the legal bases, claiming, for instance, that taxes are not taxes but contributions, thus sidestepping the necessary procedures. And perhaps start by providing all the documents relevant to the vaccines deal, including the text messages. That would be a good example of how to be a law-abiding person.

“And the last point, really we don’t know but this Commission will go in history as one that tried to regulate the language of the European Union and to establish a sort of officially sanctioned indoctrination. For instance such as abolishing certain words such as ‘Christmas’. Yes, you withdrew from this idiotic move, but the fact is that your bureaucrats were planning it. A large bunch of the European Commission has been working on how we should speak and how we should avoid the word ‘Christmas’. This is simply outrageous, but this gives us an insight into how the Commission works, and what we see should be a warning to us all.”