Brussels (Brussels Morning) The growing divide between Poland and most other EU member states, with the exception of Hungary, cast a shadow ahead of today’ s opening of the summit of EU’s leaders, which was originally expected to focus on rising energy prices and the growing migration pressures.
Speaking ahead of the summit, Poland’s Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said Warsaw would not “bow to EU blackmail,” but would rather seek to solve ongoing disputes. A majority of EU leaders are calling for some sort of reprisal against Poland for the verdict of its Constitutional Tribunal, which determined that the country’s constitution took precedence over the EU’s core treaties, thereby jeopardising the stability of the Union.
“Some European institutions assume the right to decide on matters that have not been assigned to them”, Morwaiecki said in Brussels on Thursday, as other EU heads of state and governments were preparing for a long afternoon session.
“We will not act under the pressure of blackmail, we are ready for dialogue, we do not agree to the ever-expanding competences of EU institutions, but we will of course talk about how to resolve the current disputes in dialogue”, Morawiecki observe.
Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, cautioned against isolating Poland, stressing that the Union needs “to find ways of coming back together”. With the new German government likely to be set up soon, Merkel is attending what is likely to be her final EU summit.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron urged the Polish PM to cooperate with the European Commission and to find a solution that would be compatible with European principles. France’s Europe Minister, Clement Baune, pointing out that the European project would cease to exist if joint rules fail, announced that sanctions against Poland are on the table if dialogue does not work.
Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg are all intent on bringing Warsaw into line by force if necessary, while the European Parliament has chastised the Commission for failing to use the conditionality clause already, which would bar Poland from drawing upon more EU funds.
