Double standards applied by the Commission in respect of quality of democracy in individual Member States

Question for written answer  E-000318/2021/rev.1
to the Commission
Rule 138
Joachim Stanisław Brudziński (ECR)

One thing that bears witness to the observance of all standards influencing the quality of democracy is the application of pluralism in opinion polls, namely the publication of opinion polls that show levels of support for all political parties, from left to right, in individual Member States.

According to a 2020 study (https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1345076300252405760), in Belarus – a country with authoritarian standards in which there is no media pluralism – no opinion polls have been published that show differences between the ruling grouping and the other opposition groupings.

The situation is similar in France. No polls were published there in 2020 breaking down support for the different political parties as part of the representative polls on the vote for parties in each country in 2020.

My country, Poland, which has recently been the target of accusations which cast doubt on the quality of its democracy, came fifth in this particular survey compared with other EU countries. This provides a clear response to the individual accusations concerning the threat to democracy in Poland.

• 1.How does the Commission assess the level of democratic standards in France on the basis of the number of published polls showing the difference between the ruling group and opposition groups?
• 2.What concrete steps will the Commission take in this matter?