“Opoka w Kraju” at the time of referendum before the accession of Poland to the European Union and elections to the European Parliament in the years 2003–2004

Abstract

During the time of the European Referendum and elections to the European par-liament, the politicians of the League of Polish Families presented their views in the newspaper “Opoka w Kraju” among other publications. It was established and run by one of the most prominent politicians of the party – Maciej Giertych. On the basis of content analysis it must be stressed that the most characteristic feature of the views presented in “Opoka w Kraju” is a variation of the philosophy of Feliks Koneczny. According to his ideas, Germany represents the Byzantine civilization, whilst Poland belongs to the Latin civilization. Koneczny also believed that understanding between these civilizations is not possible. Maciej Giertych tried to adjust this theory to modern times. In his opinion the European Union is, in fact, ruled by Germany, therefore ac-cession to the organisation is harmful for Poland. Giertych also presented his ideas in other publications.