Donald Tusk’s victory will only please Brussels

Change in Poland looks likely. A second exit poll gives the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) the most votes, but not enough to form a majority. The nativist right-wing party Konfederacja might’ve helped them form a coalition, but even combined the two parties still don’t have the numbers. Ex-Eurocrat Donald Tusk, who leads Civic Platform (KO), says he has built a coalition with Lewica, on the left, and Third Way (TD), conservatives, that can govern Poland. The result is not particularly good for the Polish people, or for Europe, but the European Commission in Brussels, and progressives on the Continent generally, will be delighted.

Brussels benefits twice over from Tusk’s coalition. First, Poland has been one of the few EU states willing to ignore the bloc’s calls for social reform, to deny the supremacy of European law, and, sometimes, to defy its judicial appointments and immigration and environmental decisions. Whatever happens, those rebellions are likely to stop.