Mateusz Morawiecki’s comments, in an interview for the Thursday edition of German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, were the latest broadside from Warsaw over plans to link access to EU funds with respect for the rule of law.
Warsaw, along with Budapest, has threatened to veto the bloc’s 2021-2027 budget over the new mechanism, which was put forward last month during the German presidency of the EU.
Poland and Hungary have both denied accusations by Brussels of violating democratic principles and undermining the independence of their courts.
Morawiecki was cited by Thursday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as saying: "Our main concern is that this mechanism may be used in a very arbitrary and politically motivated way. Someone today does not like the Polish government, so we pillory it. Tomorrow it may be the Italian or Portuguese government – so we’ll take funds away from them.”
He added: “This is paradoxical, because it is a mechanism bypassing the [EU] treaties. A mechanism which is supposed to guarantee the observance of the rule of law is itself a fundamental violation of the very same rule of law."
After holding talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest last week, Morawiecki warned that the proposal to tie access to cash from Brussels with the rule of law could lead to the EU breaking up.
Morawiecki last month told EU leaders his country opposed the use of “non-objective criteria” to decide how much cash member states receive from Brussels.
(pk)
Source: PAP