Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has written in several European newspapers and portals explaining Poland’s stance in its dispute with the EU over the block’s budget, where he has defended the value of diversity within nation states.
“A crisis such as this happens once in a century, and although a vaccine has appeared on the horizon, our concerns are not going to cease soon. Europeans have not seen a glimmer of hope just yet — something they have been waiting for. It is up to the EU, its strength, joint endeavors and the efficacy of [member] states whether Europeans will regain their faith in the future,” Morawiecki wrote in a Facebook post which pointed to a series of articles he wrote in the international media. The head of Poland’s government stressed that “the Covid-19 pandemic is the largest crisis since WWII. It is our first chance, as the self-reliant Europe that was united after 1989, to deliver a joint response to the challenge posed before us. It is a great opportunity, in as much as it is a great unknown”.
The Polish prime minister said that Poland’s voice must be heard in the debate and that money is not the central issue. The way in which the budget conditionality in the range of the rule of law is to be implemented not only evokes serious concerns regarding the legal fundamentals of such a mechanism but it also breaks down trust and harms cooperation between the member states and EU institutions. PM Mateusz Morawiecki: Poland feels responsible for the future of Europe. That is why our ‘nay’ for the mechanism proposed today is also a ‘yes’ for a Europe truly united in its diversity, free, equal and living in solidarity. He believes that actions, which circumvent the EU treaties create a state of legal uncertainty.
Morawiecki believes that the EU cannot question its own rules nor change them at the whim of individual member states. Such a development is contravention with the principles of the rule of law, which is why he writes that he is now appealing for unity around the goal of economic reconstruction.
The rule-of-law mechanism in its current form leaves room for dangerous interpretation and discretionary power for institutions that do not have a democratic mandate.
The prime minister, in the articles published in the European media, states that “Poland feels responsible for the future of Europe. That is why our ‘nay’ for the mechanism proposed today is also a ‘yes’ for a Europe truly united in its diversity, which is free, equal and living in solidarity.”
