Legutko made the statement in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday, Poland’s niezalezna.pl website reported.
He was speaking during a debate that followed Scholz’s address to European lawmakers, according to the euractiv.com website.
The German chancellor spoke about the need to reform the EU, particularly if the bloc is to keep expanding, and to strengthen the European Commission’s ability to bring member states to court over rule-of-law violations, euractiv.com reported.
Legutko, who is co-chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, said: “To understand the role of Germany one needs to start with the basic question: What sort of political system is the European Union? And I submit it is a combination of an oligarchy and a tyranny of the majority.”
He added: “The Parliament functions, of course, as the tyranny of the majority. And the Commission is a typically oligarchic institution, unelected, with limited democratic legitimacy. And having an unquestionable lust for power.”
‘The big guys do what they want'
Addressing Scholz, Legutko said: “Mr. Chancellor, you want this body [the Commission] to have even more power. But the pillars of European oligarchy are the big guys among the member states. And the biggest is, of course, Germany.”
He added: “The big guys do what they want, never bother to consult anyone and call it leadership. And with the voting system in the Council securing their interests, there is little chance they could be outvoted.”
The Polish MEP went on to say: “Of many sins that the German governments have committed, let me mention two: the migration crisis, when Germany single-handedly opened EU borders, and recently the energy and security crisis, which resulted from it having a long and murky tradition: political romance with Russia.”
Legutko stated: “Today the German politicians … promise to be good boys in the future. Well, the problem with the big guys is they can promise anything. And repentance is as easy for them as it is inconsequential.”
‘I simply cannot believe my ears'
The Polish MEP told the chamber in Strasbourg: “When I hear that the best option would be the gradual abolition of the veto and the abolition of the veto in foreign policy, I simply cannot believe my ears.”
He said: “The Russian policy was the most spectacular disaster of the EU’s big guys and those who are most responsible for this want to have more power in foreign policy. The logic behind it boggles the mind. The more we screw up, the more power we want.”
Legutko added: “The logic would be the reverse, because you screw up so much. You should be kept in check for as long as possible. Chancellor Scholz, I do not have any illusions about Germany mending its ways. You are too big. You are too hubristic.”
'Let others run the show’
Addressing Scholz, the Polish MEP further said: “If you could satisfy my intellectual curiosity - where can one read about German responsibility for the EU in the treaties? The only proper thing for the German governments would be to take the back benches and, as the political hygiene requires, let others run the show.”
Legutko told Scholz: “You tried, you failed. You should withdraw. Unless Mr. Chancellor, you and your colleagues in the European oligarchy, believe that German leaders, like diamonds, are forever.”
Tuesday is day 440 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: niezalezna.pl, euractiv.com, ECR Group
