Poland is not a country in which left-liberal policies should go unchallenged. Among Europe’s large nations, it is arguably the most religious and conservative. A defiant independence has long emanated from Warsaw. Politicians from both American parties have sought favor there. EU devotees, too, have jockeyed for hearts and minds along the Vistula.
Nonetheless, a period of weakness on the right is giving the country’s new government carte blanche to reshape society according to Western establishment dogma. Transgender soldiers, abortion on demand, and so-called hate-speech laws are firmly on the agenda less than three months into the new government’s tenure. No domestic political solution figures to materialize in the short term. Polish Catholics, traditionalists, and globalism skeptics are in for a bumpy ride.
This political disequilibrium is undoubtedly one of the reasons Poland has become a flash point in Europe’s recent wave of farmer protests. Last Tuesday, an estimated 10,000 farmers marched on Warsaw to demand concessions from the government. Their two central grievances are the burdensome agricultural stipulations of the “European Green Deal” initiatives and the unchecked flow of agricultural products from neighboring Ukraine. The latter policy, implemented in the EU after Russia’s invasion two years ago, has lowered the prices Polish farmers can command and consigned them to a cost disadvantage, as Ukrainian products are not subject to EU quality regulations. Farmers have blocked border crossings and critical roadways in response to a perceived lack of government action. In some cases, they have dumped Ukrainian grain shipments.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/polish-conservatives-under-siege/