NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

only marginally in the statement of one of the PSL leaders who warned against the “Germanisation of the Western territories” 164 . Not surprisingly, quite a broad amount of attention was paid to the accession negotiations with the EU and to EU membership. In particular, the representatives of the two most extremist parties – LPR and Samoobrona – made instrumental use of the issue of EU accession to mobilise their supporters through nationalist populist appeals. According to Andrzej Lepper, the goal of the EU was to make “Poland become the market for its overproduction” 165 . On the other hand, one of the LPR leaders, Jan Lopuszański, appealed to the Polish Sejm to stop the damaging process of the subordination of Poland to the EU. In his words, the whole process of the integration of Poland into the EU was taking place “behind the nation’s back” 166 . 5.2. Nationalist populism in the Slovak political discourse (2002) 5.2.1. Party manifestos The 2002 elections in Slovakia, for the first time in the history of the independent Slovakia, did not bring about a change of the government. Although the composition of the governmental coalition changed to some extent – the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ) was replaced by the Alliance of a New Citizen (ANO) – the other three coalition partners remained the same as in the previous government. Moreover, Mikuláš Dzurinda again occupied the position of Prime Minister. The elections were characterised by the appearance of some new parties, which received quite a significant volume of voter support. Apart from the abovementioned Alliance of a New Citizen, the SMER – a “social-democratic” party, which in fact replaced the SDĽ – also proved to be increasingly important in the Slovak political scene. The biggest surprise, however, turned out to be the success of the Slovak Communist Party (KSS), which has been almost forgotten after 1989. The disappearance of the SNS from the parliament can be explained through the split of the SNS into two parties – SNS and the “Right SNS” – just a few months before the elections. The number of political parties competing in the elections was higher than the number of analysed party manifestos. Therefore, the selection was made 164 Interview with Zdzisław Podkański. Gazeta Wyborcza (December 21, 2001), p. 11. 165 Andrzej Lepper, leader of Samoobrona, on the proposal of LPR to organize a referendum on the EU accession already in the year 2002. Gazeta Wyborcza (January 11, 2002), pp. 1, 6–7. 166 Statement of Jan Lopuszański. Gazeta Wyborcza (January 11, 2002), pp. 1, 6–7.

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