Poland's new Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday (Dec.13) in Brussels that Poland was on the final stretch to solve the issue of unfreezing EU funds to Poland. Tusk assured that "all the institutions know that we observe a renaissance of the rule of law in Poland". He also stressed that "apathy on Ukraine is unacceptable," adding that he would try to convince "some member states".
The European Union has frozen tens of billions of euros in EU money for Warsaw under the previous Polish government because it was concerned was not respecting the rule of law.
Tusk said he was 90% sure that he would be able to speed up the process of unfreezing the cash as he arrived at a European Union summit in Brussels.
"This question (if Tusk will bring EU funds back to Poland) is of course a metaphor, it is clear that I will not bring five billion euro in suitcases back to Poland. Everything is on the right path. You've been observing our efforts (to unfreeze EU funds) from the first days after the election and one thing is certain - that all the institutions know that we observe a renaissance of the rule of law in Poland now and no one doubts it," Tusk said.
He added he had a meeting scheduled with European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen and would be able to present results of the talks on Friday.
"It seems we are on the final stretch to solve this dilemma. Until we have the bills - I mean we have the bills ready but, of course, they will finally need the acceptance of President Duda, who was a co-author of the problem we need to solve today with the Europan money - but I would say I am 90% sure that this process can be speeded up in such a way that I will be able to tell you on Friday: 'We got this!'"
Tusk: apathy on Ukraine unacceptable
Tusk also said that his role would be to strengthen European determination to effectively support Ukraine against Russia's invasion.
"I can't accept any kind of this mood, apathy of Ukraine, fatigue, this is something unacceptable, because in fact, we are talking not about only Ukraine and the war and the Russian aggression, we are talking about our future, no doubt," he said.
"My role here today is to strengthen the European determination, and I think about the EU as a whole, but also, I'm talking about some member states, to convince them that the most important thing for us as a Europe to support effectively Ukraine," Tusk added.
"I will try to find maybe a new key to convince not only Mr. (Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor) Orban. As you know, Prime Minister Orban is a very pragmatic politician - please treat that as a compliment."
Hungary locked horns with fellow European Union members on Wednesday over Ukraine's bid to join the bloc, aggravating a dispute that could hold up Kyiv's membership drive and was set to overshadow an EU summit.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters