While the government has said the referendum gives Poles the chance to have voice on key issues, the opposition has dismissed it as electioneering, and on Wednesday Tusk (pictured), the leader of Civic Platform, the largest opposition party, said he regarded it as invalid.
Paweł Supernak/PAP

The government spokesman has criticised opposition leader Donald Tusk’s position on a proposed referendum, claiming that he fears the referendum in the same way the devil fears holy water.

The four-question referendum is due to be held on the same day as the October 15 general election and will cover a proposed EU migrant relocation scheme, the sale of state assets, the future of a fence on the Polish-Belarusian border and the retirement age.

While the government has said the referendum gives Poles the chance to have voice on key issues, the opposition has dismissed it as electioneering, and on Wednesday Tusk, the leader of Civic Platform, the largest opposition party, said he regarded it as invalid.

“I am deeply convinced that Donald Tusk is afraid of this referendum like the devil is of holy water, because citizens may bind his future decisions, which he wanted to make with his colleague Weber and other European leaders, to their choices,” Piotr Muller said on Thursday.

He also rejected opposition claims that the referendum had little relevance, arguing, in particular, that in the past Poland’s state assets had been sold off too cheaply.

“Is the sale of national assets — a policy implemented by your friend Leszek Balcerowicz, your friend Janusz Lewandowski and other politicians — not an important matter for the state?” said Muller. “Have you not learned a lesson from what you did in the 1990s?”

He added that “the facts offend the Civic Platform”.