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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused the European Union of imperialist habit towards small member states in a German media editorial. Calling for a more consensual approach, Morawiecki wrote Wednesday for the news site Welt: “Political practice has shown that the positions of Germany and France matter more than everyone else.
“So we are facing a formal democracy and a de facto oligarchy in which the most powerful have power. “
He added that both European imperialism and Russian imperialism will have to be combated.
The prime minister, whose nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government has clashed in Brussels over rule of law issues, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had exposed the EU’s shortcomings.
He called for “a profound reform that puts non-unusual intelligence and equality back at the forefront of union principles. “
Politicians in Poland’s ruling party have said Warsaw could simply retaliate against the EU if the country gets its share of pandemic recovery funds.
Brussels said it was not happy with Poland’s most recent judicial reforms.
In 2020, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte asked, perhaps ironically, whether they could have an EU without this troubled duo of Hungary and Poland. It was a telling moment, alluding to Western Europe’s frustration with what many see as recalcitrant ex-communist states. , writes Jonathan Saxty.
Is the EU in danger of breaking internal tensions?Find out HERE.
More than 35 billion euros (£30 billion) in COVID-19 grants and stimulus loans have been suspended due to a dispute over reforms to Poland’s judicial system, which the EU says are overturning democratic norms.
In June, the European Commission (EC) approved the budget for Poland, but its leader, Ursula von der Leyen, said more work needed to be done on the rule of law on a visit, when she met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
PiS, however, said its landmark reforms were aimed at making the formula more and denied any interference in the courts for political purposes.
“If there is an attempt to block the payment . . . and the European Commission wants to pressure us, so we still have no option to take all the weapons out of our arsenal and respond with barrages,” Krzysztof Sobolewski told Polish public radio.
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PiS did not specify what moves it is considering, however, cabinet minister Michal Wojcik, a member of the conservative United Poland party, a minor spouse in the government, noted that Poland could veto some EU decisions.
“Since we are dealing with other people who do not respect the terms of the contract . . . I think we have to play hard,” Polsat News told personal television.
Poland passed a law in May that replaced a questionable disciplinary chamber for judges with a new body, and on Tuesday the Supreme Court decided on candidates for the new chamber from among its judges.
But von der Leyen said in an interview in late July that the new law did not give judges the right to challenge judicial appointments without facing disciplinary proceedings, a challenge that would have to be resolved to secure EU funds.
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Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podesta said the new law is an important step, but the EU’s initial assessment that it did not allow judgments to be made to challenge the prestige of another opinion without risking disciplinary proceedings.
“This challengeArray. . . will need to be resolved to ensure that the commitments of the recovery and resilience plan are metArray. . . No official assessment has been made as so far no payment request has been made through Poland,” Podesta said in an instruction.
Warsaw’s refusal to comply with EU rule of law requirements has fueled complaints from opposition politicians that PiS will likely try to pull Poland out of the bloc, which the government denies.