EU Commission spokesman Eric Mamer on Monday commented on Poland's prime minister's words about "third world war" he used in an interview for "Financial Times", dismissing his war rhetoric as unacceptable. PM Morawiecki also accused the EU of making demands with a "gun to our head".
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in an interview for "Financial Times" the European Commission was making demands while pointing a "gun to our head".
"What happens if the European Commission starts the third world war? If they do start it, we are going to defend our rights with any weapons which are at our disposal," the prime minister added.
Asked on Monday to comment on Morawiecki's words, EU Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said the bloc's policy was not not to relate to interviews for the media.
He said, however, that the EU "is a project that for 68 years has very successfully contributed to establishing a lasting peace among its member states".
Mamer added that "there is no place for rhetoric referring to war" between members states and EU institutions.
Defending Morawiecki, spokesperson for the Polish government Piotr Müller said the prime minister's words should not be treated literally.
"It's a hyperbole, a rhetorical figure, often used in various interviews and literature. I wouldn't draw such conclusions as the opposition is drawing today," Müller said.
Long-running tensions between Poland's ruling nationalists and the bloc's liberal majority have spiked since Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruled this month that elements of EU law were incompatible with the country's charter, challenging a central tenet of EU integration.
The dispute not only risks precipitating a new fundamental crisis for the bloc, which is still grappling with the aftermath of Brexit. It could deprive Poland of generous EU handouts.
Last week, European leaders lined up to chastise Warsaw for challenging the EU's legal foundations, but Poland's premier said he would not bow to "blackmail" as he joined a summit of the bloc's 27 nations.
Poland's former prime minister Donald Tusk, who has been officially appointed chairman of the Civic Platform party he once established, said the "the world was dumbfounded" after Morawiecki's interview.
"In politics, stupidity is the cause of most serious misfortunes," Tusk added in a tweet.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP