Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the "Financial Times" that this year's elections to the European Parliament will spark deep changes in Brussels. He also criticised European Commission's actions taken in regard to Polish judiciary reforms.
Polish PM said in an interview published at "FT" portal that Brussels and the European Commission should be more open to the developments in particular states. He added that voices of those countries, especially Central-European ones will have to be heard more clearly.
In Morawiecki's opinion, the EU as an institution needs a reform and most of other PMs agreed with this, however, everyone's waiting for the elections. As he underscored, the elections will spark deep changes in Brussels.
"FT" reminded that anti-establishment, nationalist and far-right parties are gaining hefty support before the elections to Europarliament in May. In this context, the paper mentions the Italian Northern League, the French National Rally (former National Front), Hungarian Fidesz, Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Polish Law and Justice (PiS).
Morawiecki dismissed as "completely ill-founded" the suggestions that Central-European states are leaning towards authoritarianism. He added that people in Brussels completely misunderstand the situation in the former communist countries. In his opinion, the judiciary reforms, considered an attack on independent courts by the critics, are necessary to root out the last remains of communism in Poland, we read in "FT".
Just like any other country, Poland has its own challenges, such as the judicial system that have not been reformed for the last 30 years, said the head of the government in Warsaw.
Morawiecki compared the controversy surrounding Polish reforms to the recent struggle of the French President Emmanuel Macron with the "yellow vests" protest. He stressed that he wouldn't go as far as to say that France has problems with the rule of law, however, he claimed that if such "brutal intervention" of security forces like in France hapenned in Poland, it would meet with a strong criticism from "Brussels, Berlin and maybe Paris.
Morawiecki added that if the European Commission won't withdraw its case against Poland from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), it will only prove that EU officers are using the dispute with Warsaw for political gains.
Polish PM claims that it's time for the Commission's move and that Warsaw has already done much. Morawiecki called upon the EU Commission to take decisive, positive steps, as long as Brussels wants to come out as "honest middle-man". He added that by far he did not get the impression that the Commission acted as such.
Mateusz Morawiecki underscored that in his opinion, if the Commission keeps the case open, it means that some people want to use it as an argument in the political campaign before the elections to the European Parliament. He added that if that's the case, than it would be very dangerous.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP, Financial Times
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24