This paper aims at explaining why and how national narratives contesting EU legitimacy at the policy level are framed as contestation of the EU at the systemic level. Empirically, the paper looks at various narratives of contestation of EU climate policy in Poland. Contrary to the expectation that civil society organizations would further environmental objectives for an even more ambitious EU-level policy, while opposing the government and powerful business interests, it is assumed here that civil society actors can also produce narratives of contestation of the EU climate policy. As a result, the objective of this paper is threefold: 1) to map producers and content of narratives of contestation in Poland; 2) to reflect on the discursive link that is being made in these narratives between the EU policy, defence of Polish interests against interests of more powerful EU Member States and national sovereignty; 3) to illustrate how narratives of contestation of EU climate policy are strategically used to further domestic political objectives, thus explaining why their producers abstain from mobilization and agenda-setting at the EU-level.
