Karol Nawrocki removes the EU flag from the Chancellery of the President. What does this mean?
“Throwing the Union flag out of the office was one of the first decisions after the introduction of Karol Nawrocki to the palace,” says the anonymous source cited by “Wyborcza”. As the informant adds, although there was no formal command in this matter, other officials also began to remove EU flags from office spaces.
The lack of an EU flag was noticed during the meeting of the office council on August 27, where only Polish national colors were present. Similarly, on the President.pl website and the President's social media, the blue banner with yellow stars appears sporadically.
However, the president's spokesman, Rafał Leśkiewicz, refutes allegations of marginalizing EU symbols. “During the statements of the President from last week there were three flags: the Polish Flag, NATO and the EU. These flags are present in the office of the office,” he wrote.
In fact, photos from August 21 and 25 show that the EU flag accompanied President Nawrocki during press conferences regarding his visit to the United States and the justification of the veto to the Act on help for Ukrainians. However, the lack of an unequivocal answer to the question about the presence of the EU flag in the president's office leaves room for speculation.
The president organizes the palace in his own way. The first fire of the EU flag. Symbolic change?
The decision of Karol Nawrocki contrasts with the practice of his predecessor, Andrzej Duda, in whom the European Union flag was a permanent element of the office's decor. Does this mean a change in the approach to European symbolism at the highest level of power in Poland?
Although gestures such as removal of flag may seem symbolic, they have the potential to cause broad interpretations – both in the country and internationally. In the context of Poland's relationship with the European Union, each signal of this type can be received as a tip for the direction of presidential policy.
Source: Gazeta Wyborcza
