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Polish prime minister ‘will do everything’ to get EU money

24.10.2021 09:00
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said he “will do everything” so that Poland does not feel “the negative effects” of the opposition MEPs' requests to block EU money for the country.
Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki.
Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki.Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara

“At the European Council in Brussels, I spoke with most of the European heads of state”, Morawiecki wrote on Facebook on Sunday.

“I can assure you that I will do everything so that Poles do not feel the negative effects of the Civic Platform MEPs' requests to block funds that are due to Poland,” he added.

European lawmakers on Thursday voted to condemn what they said was an attempt to undermine the primacy of EU law by Poland's governing conservatives amid a bitter dispute over judicial changes and the rule of law in the eastern member state.

In a resolution adopted with 502 votes for, 153 against, and 16 abstentions, MEPs called on the European Council and the bloc's executive to find mechanisms to "urgently protect the people of Poland and the Union," the EU legislature said on its website. Poland's governing Law and Justice MEPs voted against, while MEPs from opposition parties Civic Platform, PSL and the Left supported the document.

MEPs described the Polish top court's decision as "an attack on the European community of values and laws as a whole,” and said that the Constitutional Tribunal itself had been transformed “into a tool for legalising the illegal activities of the authorities.”

The resolution followed a heated plenary debate two days earlier during which Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France that his government would not give in to financial and political "blackmail" over its judicial reforms.

Tuesday's debate was held after a landmark judgement by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, which ruled earlier this month that parts of EU treaties were incompatible with the Polish constitution.

(jh)

Source: PAP