<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>All governments in Poland formed after the introduction of the European Semester were coalitional ones. All these governments contained junior coalition partners representing all party families. Irrespective of their affiliation, all these junior parties adopted policies that appeared to comply with the European Semester. Hence, junior coalition parties might be recognised as very diligent European students, even if two out of three represented quite extreme views and were undeniably more Eurosceptic than their respective senior partners. However, it can be argued that their strategy was mixed: even if these two more Eurosceptic parties might be regarded as being so in their rhetoric, they accepted all recommendations from the European Semester, except for the farmers’ insurance privileges reduction. The salience of their approach to this latter issue was seen even after a few years in government, making these parties clearly different from their senior coalition partners.</p>
</abstract>

All governments in Poland formed after the introduction of the European Semester were coalitional ones. All these governments contained junior coalition partners representing all party families. Irrespective of their affiliation, all these junior parties adopted policies that appeared to comply with the European Semester. Hence, junior coalition parties might be recognised as very diligent European students, even if two out of three represented quite extreme views and were undeniably more Eurosceptic than their respective senior partners. However, it can be argued that their strategy was mixed: even if these two more Eurosceptic parties might be regarded as being so in their rhetoric, they accepted all recommendations from the European Semester, except for the farmers’ insurance privileges reduction. The salience of their approach to this latter issue was seen even after a few years in government, making these parties clearly different from their senior coalition partners.

Diligent or just smart students? Small governmental parties’ approach to the European Semester in Poland

PhD in Political Science and associate professor at the University of Wrocław

Politics in Central Europe

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

All governments in Poland formed after the introduction of the European Semester were coalitional ones. All these governments contained junior coalition...

Diligent or just smart students? Small governmental parties’ approach to the European Semester in Poland

Published Online: Dec 30, 2021

Page range: 773 - 790

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pce-2021-0040

Keywords
European Semester, Euroscepticism, junior coalition parties, Poland

© 2021 Piotr Sula, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Diligent or just smart students? Small governmental parties’ approach to the European Semester in Poland

Published Online: Dec 30, 2021

Page range: 773 - 790

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pce-2021-0040

KeywordsEuropean Semester, Euroscepticism, junior coalition parties, Poland

© 2021 Piotr Sula, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
European Semester, Euroscepticism, junior coalition parties, Poland