U.S. Ambassador downplays EU criticism of Poland on rule of law

Warsaw, Poland – U.S. Ambassador in Warsaw Georgette Mosbacher downplayed the European Union’s (EU) criticism of Poland on rule of law and democratic backsliding.

EU criticism of Poland on democracy “overblown”, says U.S. ambassador

In an interview with Reuters, Washington’s top envoy in Poland argued that: “If you’re asking me… do I think that a lot of the attacks on Poland about democratic values is overblown, my answer is yes, I do”.

Georgette Mosbacher, who assumed office in 2018, went on to claim that the EU still had to recognize the growing importance of Poland in Europe and acknowledge the progress the country made since the 1990s, including in terms of economic clout.

“It’s still seen as the adolescent in the EU and it isn’t anymore… I don’t think France and Germany… [are] comfortable with that yet”, she opined.

Her comments came shortly after incumbent and PiS ally Andrzej Duda was narrowly reelected for a second term in office, giving the ruling Law and Justice party of Jaroslaw Kaczynski a large freedom to push through its controversial judicial reforms, which critics say undermine the independence of the judiciary and marks an attempt to politicize the courts.

Presidential campaign with “homophobic undertones”

Asked about the presidential election, where LGBT rights took center stage, Mosbacher commented: “I think there were homophobic undertones. Do I like it? No. And I’m pretty vocal on that publicly”.

During the campaign, Duda described the “LGBT ideology” as worse than communism, echoing the rhetoric used by the ruling PiS party and pro-government media which activists, who in turn mobilized to defend the rights of sexual minorities in Poland, say only seeks to fuel hate-speech against an alleged “LGBT invasion” to fire up its conservative electorate.

Finally, dismissing claims that the plan would eventually be scrapped, Georgette Mosbacher assured that the agreement struck last year between Andrzej Duda and President Donald Trump to shore up U.S. military presence in Poland should be finalized “within weeks, not months”.