Few words are as vulgar in the Polish political lexicon as Targowica, which refers to the confederation (legal rebellion) of Commonwealth-era magnates (oligarchs) in 1792 organized by Empress Catherine the Great to oppose her former lover King Stanisław August Poniatowski’s progressive reforms. It resulted in another Russian invasion that led to the Second Partition of Poland, which quickly gave way to the third and final one, thus forever associating the name of that Central Ukrainian village with treason for Poles.
Tusk’s ruling liberal coalition is akin to modern-day Targowica Confederation traitors due to the similarly disastrous consequences that their judicial coup could have for Polish sovereignty. “Tusk’s Judicial Coup Amounts To An Attempted German Takeover Of Poland By Proxy”, which wants to subjugate Poland within a German-dominated European Federation instead of allowing conservative President Karol Nawrocki to reform the EU into a union of nation-states and restore Poland’s status as a regional power.
Last December when commemorating the Greater Poland Uprising, “Nawrocki Strongly Alluded To The Significant Non-Military Threat That Germany Poses To Poland”, namely the hybrid warfare that’s waged against it through the German-led EU. The goal is to deracinate Poles and erode Poland’s sovereignty in order to facilitate their subordination as post-modern German vassals. Tusk’s judicial coup aims to oust Nawrocki so that he can’t veto the introduction of the euro and the transfer of Polish gold to Germany.
Tusk’s ruling coalition has lost its popularity since returning to power in late 2023 to the point where reputable polling now shows the conservative and libertarian-nationalist opposition parties replacing them through their own coalition after fall 2027’s next Sejm elections (which might be held early). If the dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal isn’t resolved in Tusk’s favor like he sought to do through the armed takeover of it and imposition of several legally dubious judges, then his pro-German plans will fail.
There are many important differences between Poniatowski and Nawrocki, but the first’s Constitution of 3 May 1791 aimed to liberate Poland from the Russian yoke that it had been under for decades till then just like the second’s ambitious EU reform plan aims to liberate it from the German-led EU yoke that it’s under. The empire that expanded across Europe during Poniatowski’s lifetime was Russia, while the empire that expanded across Europe during Nawrocki’s is the EU. That’s where the similarities end.
Poniatowski disavowed his own Constitution and disgracefully joined the Targowica Confederation per Russia’s demand for a ceasefire prior to the Second Polish Partition, while Nawrocki turned his flight around en route to Africa and entered the Tribunal early Saturday morning. Instead of joining the modern-day Targowica Confederation, Nawrocki decided to resist its efforts to take Poland over by proxy on behalf of Germany, keeping in mind all that he learned as Poland’s top historian before his election.
The fate of Tusk’s modern-day Targowica Confederation might therefore be altogether different from its predecessor, but the stakes are no less existential, even if Poland is only facing the functional loss of its sovereignty instead of its formal loss like back then. Poland will either restore its sovereignty within the limits allowed by the EU in order to preserve its people’s Polishness or they’ll lose their identity under German-led EU federal subjugation to become an amorphous blob of biomass with no Polish features.
