Campaigning situation
All major parties in Poland favour a referendum, the date of which is yet to be determined by Parliament. The left-wing governing coalition, which favours the constitution, would prefer to hold the referendum simultaneously with the presidential elections at the end of 2005. The opposing right-wing parties, such as the PiS, fear that this would enable the government to use the referendum campaign to distract attention from Poland’s domestic problems, and would rather the referendum were held after the Presidential election. PiS’s presidential candidate is Lech Kaczynski, the current mayor of Warsaw, will soon hopefully be joining the ENC’s list of supporters.
The Left is very enthusiastic about the EU Constitution, as are the farmers, who despite having opposed EU membership during the accession referendum, have now altered their opinion completely in the light of promised subsidies from Brussels. Opponents to the Constitution believe that it removes many of the benefits Poland gains under the existing Nice treaty, and are unhappy about the lack of a reference to Christianity in the text.
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