IlliberalNeo-Intergovernmentalism: Poland’s Conservative Idea for the European Union?

Abstract The aim of this article is to propose the term ‘illiberal neo-intergovernmentalism’ (IN) to describe and explain Poland’s EU concept promoted by the government and some scholars after 2015. The methodology, based on decision, factor and comparative analyses, is of qualitative nature. The main idea is the assumption that Polish vision can be treated as a concept contributing to theory building. The research question relates to the positioning of the Polish concept against the background of other approaches: due to its significant distance from the functionalist trend, a connection with the intergovernmentalist theories is assumed. Two hypotheses are presented, and their verification shows that the main weakness of the Polish concept is the lack of paradigmatic rooting. The ‘Eurorealist’ illiberal neo-intergovernmentalism has not been created as a result of the evolutionary development of well-founded views typical of the intergovernmental trend and seems to disregard all previous theoretical achievements. Referring to realism alone, without defining the continuity of thought, is not enough to recognise the concept as a realist one. Therefore, this vision does not have explanatory values, while its normative character is the result of the adoption of Eurosceptic and ultraconservative ideology.