Every politician taking up the mandate of an MEP for the first time is amazed at how much his new workplace differs from the Polish Sejm. Some fall into oblivion because they have neither the substantive nor linguistic qualifications to achieve anything here. Others stay with one foot in national politics and participate in the Polish fight from Brussels and Strasbourg.
There are also those who like this new – calmer and more substantive – way of doing politics. And they fit in well in it. Buzek is the most outstanding example of this. He has a combination of qualities that can lead to success in any field – talent, deep specialized knowledge (in his case, industry) and legendary diligence.
Jerzy Buzek, an MEP beyond divisions
To achieve success in the EP, understood as carrying out your own, innovative initiatives, you need something else: the ability to communicate with people with different views. And they don’t teach this in Polish political schools.
It may be hard to believe, but I have never heard any negative opinion about the former prime minister. Everyone spoke highly of him: from parliamentary assistants, through MEPs of various groups, to EU commissioners. Yes, Buzek criticized PiS, but always substantively. And wherever he could, with Jarosław Kaczyński’s nominees, for the good of Poland, he cooperated even during the greatest war between PO and PiS.