It was the most important moment in Beata Szydlo’s career and the most expensive event in PiS history. Before the incoming prime minister enters the stage, several MEPs speak to the empty chairs. It does not matter that nobody listens to them. It is important that PiS has a paddle to pay the European Parliament for the convention.
Torwar Hall in Warsaw, June 20, 2015, a few weeks after Andrzej Duda’s electoral victory. The face of Stanisław Ozog, the Podkarpackie PiS MEP, fills the upper part of the screen. Below is a board with a small, barely legible logo: a white lion on a blue background, next to the inscription „Group of European Conservatives and Reformists” (with the English abbreviation ECR). When Mr Ozog sums up his work in the Euro MPC’s monetary committee, the Torwar side court shines empty. In other sectors – the atmosphere of a loose picnic. Those who have already entered are busy doing selfie and conversations. Hall will be up to an hour and fills up to the last place with flags. The logo of the lion will disappear from the TV, and Jaroslaw Kaczyński will appear on the stage to announce that Beata Szydlo will be the Prime Minister candidate for the prime minister.
We have decided that if it had not been for Mrs Ozog and his colleagues from the European Parliament, the party for Beata Szydlo would not have such a spectacular setting: MEPs are a game of appearances, a platform for PiS politicians to reach the EU cash register. Our PiS informant says: – ECR, the conservative fraction in which our deputies are, has a budget of hundreds of thousands of euros for meetings and conferences. All you have to do is download the members and you can set up a party for EU money.
source: www.newsweek.pl
