March 13, 2008 (LPAC)--In an about-face that sent a shock from Warsaw to Brussels, yesterday, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the opposition PiS party in the Polish national parliament, said that he and his party reject the Lisbon Treaty, because it "cannot be accepted, as it is being interpreted in a way that threatens the sovereignty of some states." As for Poland, it will never render its sovereignty, he said, and called for a renegotiation of the Treaty, to at least yield a preamble that explicitly acknowledges Poland's independence.

Kaczynski's move came as a surprise to many, since it was his own (previous) government that negotiated the concessions that made the Treaty "acceptable" for Poland at the EU Lisbon Summit in December last year. The present Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacted by saying he feels tricked, because he had only signed what Kaczynski as his predecessor in office had negotiated, and now he tells everybody that what he negotiated was no good for Poland. Moreover, Kaczynski's PiS party voted for the ratification law when it was debated in the parliament 10 days ago, and passed with an overwhelming majority.

Speaking for the government majority, chief speaker of the parliament Bronislaw Koromowski ruled out any changes in the text of the Treaty, trying to mock Kaczynski with the advice: "if he does not like the treaty anymore, then he should go to his brother and tell him not to sign it." That refers to Lech Kaczynski, who is still the President of Poland, whom many already suspected would not sign the Treaty, even if ratified by the parliament, in the end. For the time being, ratification is not possible, since there is no longer a two-thirds majority, as required, in the parliament.