Polexit, the far-right Polish party aiming to lead movements to leave the EU

Brussels – More to the right than the right, aiming to take Poland out of the European Union. The Polexit party, founded in 2018, has launched its campaign for the June 6-9 European Parliament elections. The slogan is one, and it is clear: Let’s take Warsaw out of the EU for the sake of Poles.

At the head of Polexit is Stanisław Żółtek, a conservative ultra-catholic who ran for the Presidency of the Republic in 2020 but obtained only 0.23 percent of the votes. However, his popularity has since grown in Poland, mainly due to the strenuous opposition to the Green Deal. Żółtek claims that “We are under the thumb of the European Commission, which is governed by the Germans and the French.” Like many radical right-wingers, Żółtek uses TikTok extensively to convey his message and attract the younger part of the electorate.

https://twitter.com/StanislawZoltek/status/1777178070891262171

Polexit is not the only movement that wants to take Poland out of the European Union, but it is the oldest and with the largest following. In the run-up to the next elections, three other committees have sprung up that put leaving the Union as a focal point in their program. Despite pro-Europe Donald Tusk taking office as Prime Minister in the 2023 elections, euroscepticism in the country remains strong. So strong that a whole series of movements to the right of Law and Justice (PiS), a strongly conservative and nationalist party that has led Poland in recent years, are spreading.

Żółtek has already served as an MEP in the 13th legislature (2014-2019) and would like to return  to bring Polish interests, as he understands them, to Brussels to unhinge the European institutions from within. Polexit’s ambition is to unite all parties of the eurosceptic ultra-right. This union could find fertile ground in Poland, as, according to a survey by the Ibris Institute, the percentage of EU supporters in the country has dropped by 11 percent in the past three years.