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Polish opposition leader Tusk: "Faster than anyone thinks"
Photo: Maciej Luczniewski / imago images / NurPhoto
Donald Tusk does not consider Poland to leave the EU to be ruled out. The country could no longer be an EU member "faster than it seems to anyone" if the current campaign slips out of the hands of the national-conservative ruling party PiS, said the former EU Council President and Polish opposition leader on TVN24. Tusk is the acting chairman of Poland's largest opposition party, the liberal-conservative Civic Platform.
Two days ago, a high-ranking representative of the PiS questioned Poland’s further cooperation with the EU, thus triggering a nationwide debate.
"We have to think about how much further, how much more we can work together so that we all remain in the EU and so that this EU is acceptable to us," said PiS group leader Ryszard Terlecki on Wednesday at an economic forum in Karpacz and referred to the Brexit.
Poland must also think about "drastic steps".
A government spokesman then emphasized that Poland's exit from the EU was not planned.
The ongoing dispute between Warsaw and Brussels over the Polish judicial reforms has recently intensified.
The EU Commission applied to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Wednesday for fines against Poland.
The background to this is the continued activity of a disciplinary body to punish Polish judges.
The ECJ now has to decide on the application.
In mid-July, he had ruled that Poland's disciplinary body was violating European law.
The highest European judges found that the chamber at the country's highest court, established in 2018, does not offer all guarantees of independence and impartiality.
Orbán joins the PiS government
The government in Warsaw received support in the dispute with the EU from Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The recent application by the EU Commission for financial sanctions against Poland is "unprecedented," according to a government resolution signed by Orbán, which the Hungarian Official Gazette published late on Thursday evening.
"Hungary stands for Poland," says the document.
With its application for sanctions, the EU Commission "violated numerous elements of the sovereignty of a member state".
Justice Minister Judit Varga is now to examine how Hungary can intervene in the ongoing proceedings before the ECJ in favor of Poland.
Problems with the rule of law also exist in Hungary, which has been ruled by Orbán since 2010.
Among other things, critics say that the Hungarian public prosecutor's office is so controlled by Orbán loyalists that proceedings for alleged corruption in the vicinity of the ruling party Fidesz and the Orbáns family are almost never initiated.
Hungary and Poland receive significant transfer payments from the EU.
Both countries regard the EU's insistence on the rule of law when handling this money as an interference with their sovereignty.
asa / dpa