Transparency Becomes Crucial Issue in Poland As Well

Donald Tusk Prime Minister of Poland

As for the investigation, Polish voters are unlikely to receive substantial answers by the second round of the presidential election on June 1 about how much this foreign-funded attempt to influence impacted the outcome of the first round. What is certain is that the Polish internal security service will not proceed based on speculation alone — much like in Hungary, Poland also has a long history of foreign operations supporting leftists.

Recall that  

in the run-up to the previous Polish parliamentary elections in 2023, the then-conservative-majority Sejm passed a resolution condemning Brussels’s attempts to interfere in the elections.

That resolution stated that these attempts were “unacceptable intrusions into the electoral process, were contrary to European values, democracy and the principle of national sovereignty,” and were external attempts to shape Poland’s political landscape.

In light of all this, it's easy to see that the demand for political transparency has gained prominence not only in Hungary, but across the entire region — and it may well serve as a guarantee of sovereign and independent nation-states. But Poland’s experiences of both two years ago and the present show that this desire must soon be turned into concrete action. Fortunately, Hungary is leading the way in this effort.

The author is lead analyst at the Szazadveg Public Knowledge Center Foundation.