The Development Plus delegation will remain in the European Conservatives and Reformists group.
In addition to Piotr Müller, the Rozwoju Plus delegation in the EP consists of Michał Dworczyk and Waldemar Buda. Until recently, they were PiS politicians, they belong to a group that, as a result of a division in this party, decided to create a new grouping together with Morawiecki.
At the end of August, three MEPs left the PiS delegation in the European Parliament. At that time, there was no decision yet on the name of their delegation and its affiliation to any of the political groups in the EP.
Buda, Dworczyk and Müller issued a statement
On Monday, MEPs: Buda, Dworczyk and Müllera issued a statement in which they informed about the formal submission of an application to create a new delegation in the EP called Development Plus and confirmed that they would remain in the structures of the European Parliamentary grouping ECR - European Conservatives and Reformists. Müller will be the head of the new delegation.
MEPs emphasized in a statement obtained by PAP that the establishment of the Development Plus delegation "is a consequence of the new organizational situation resulting from the public statement by the management of Law and Justice on the expiration of MEPs' membership in the party." The new structure - they added - is intended to "enable further active work in the European Parliament and presenting own proposals and ideas related to the activities of Development Plus."
Development Plus MEPs identified the protection of Polish agriculture and industry, defense issues, strengthening security and Poland's "strong and decisive" voice in these matters as their priorities, as well as defending Polish entrepreneurs "against harmful burdens" and "excessive regulations". Among the key issues, they also mentioned improving the competitiveness of the European economy and "opposing solutions leading to further centralization of the EU."
40 parliamentarians excluded from PiS
In mid-August, the Peer Disciplinary Court of Law and Justice decided to exclude 40 parliamentarians from the party - 38 MPs and 2 senators - who were members of the new Development Plus parliamentary club. The court found that all of them seriously violated the party's statute regarding leaving the PiS parliamentary club and joining another club.
PiS discipline spokesman Karol Karski then pointed out that the peer court did not hear the cases of three MEPs who are members of the Rozwoju Plus association - Müller, Dworczyk and Buda. As he justified, they do not co-create a new parliamentary club, therefore "the (court's) decision does not apply to them."
On August 18, in an interview with PAP, Müller emphasized that MEPs associated with Rozwoj Plus would not remain members of the PiS delegation, but would talk "with friends from other EU countries" regarding further cooperation. He then argued that the three of them share "the values that are the foundation of the Eurorealism of the ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists) group and which focus on protecting the sovereignty of states, building a free market without EU bureaucracy, respect for traditional values, strong security within NATO, democratic control of Brussels and rational economic development instead of ideological radicalism."
The creation of Rozwoju Plus is associated with a crisis within Law and Justice. At the end of July, the deadline for President Jarosław Kaczyński's ultimatum expired, which ordered parliamentarians to resign from membership in external political associations under the threat of expulsion from the party. Politicians gathered around former Morawiecki (over 40 people) did not submit the required declarations, concluding that they had not resigned from PiS membership, but were only implementing a new social initiative. Ultimately, after the PiS leadership referred the matter to the discipline spokesman, politicians from the Rozwoju Plus association decided that they were no longer members of PiS and at the end of July they registered their own parliamentary club.
At the beginning of August, Morawiecki announced that he would establish a political party no later than October 15; The Development Plus convention is planned for this day.
