In a bold—and highly controversial—display, Polish presidential hopeful and European Parliament member Grzegorz Braun lit the EU flag ablaze outside the Wujek coal mine in Katowice last week.
His dramatic stunt, shared widely on social media, was pitched as a stand against what he calls the EU’s “bureaucratic tyranny” and its “ideological grip” on Poland.
The video, posted to Braun’s official platforms, begins inside Poland’s Ministry of Industry. There, he yanks down the EU flag, wipes his shoes on it, and then sets it aflame outside the building. His caption pulled no punches: “This is Poland – down with Euro-Communism.”
“Poland won’t fly the banner of an enemy institution,” Braun declared. “This organization has done nothing but undermine our nation. Their flag holds no legal sanctity here.”
Braun framed his flag-burning as a symbolic pushback against EU environmental directives, which he argues are gutting Polish industry—especially coal. “We are Poland, not Brussels,” he shouted at the scene. “We won’t accept emblems from foreign powers trying to dictate our future.”
He staged the protest in front of the Wujek coal mine—an emblem of Poland’s industrial backbone and national pride. According to Braun, it was a deliberate move meant to underline how out-of-touch EU climate goals are with Polish history and economic reality.
Braun isn’t new to controversy—far from it. This fiery episode is part of his fiercely anti-EU campaign as he chases the Polish presidency. His platform paints the European Union as a meddling force that tramples national sovereignty and erodes cultural identity. Despite the noise he makes, polls show him pulling in just 1–3% of the vote, placing him squarely on the political fringes.
The flag incident came on the heels of a serious development: the European Parliament recently stripped Braun of his immunity, opening the door to potential prosecution over a shocking event from December 2023. That month, Braun notoriously doused a Hanukkah menorah in Poland’s Parliament with a fire extinguisher, calling it a “satanic cult” ritual—an act that triggered widespread condemnation.
Earlier this year, during the European Parliament’s Holocaust memorial event, Braun once again stirred the pot. While others honored the memory of the victims, he shifted attention to the war in Gaza. His behavior got him promptly ejected from the chamber.
For now, Braun remains a political lightning rod—more noise than momentum—but his theatrics continue to spark headlines and outrage across Europe.
