Poland is threatening to veto the revision of the European Union budget unless and until the European Commission unblocks the country’s post-pandemic EU funds.
Poland’s Ambassador to the EU Andrzej Sadoś told a meeting of ambassadors held to discuss the budget that any decision on the matter required unanimity. He added that “in this context Poland has to remind members that it still has no access to EU funds for its operational programme [of the post-pandemic funds] and this is why at this stage Warsaw cannot support any decision”.
MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, of Poland’s ruling PiS party, confirmed the reports. “Poland is refusing to agree to any revision or increase of the seven-year EU budget until the totally illegal freezing of the funds owed it from post-pandemic funds ceases,” he posted on Twitter.
“Decisions on budgetary matters are still taken unanimously, so Poland has the right to exercise its veto,” he added.
https://twitter.com/JSaryuszWolski/status/1678689409292550148
Anna Zalewska, another PiS MEP, told Polish media outlet TV Republika: “We have to stop the EU’s meddling in the internal affairs of Member States and illegal actions aimed at affecting election results.
“If Poland’s funds for its operation programme of the post-pandemic funds are not activated we will use the veto,” she said.
Poland has had the EU funds blocked because, according to the EC, it has failed to hit targets agreed with the Polish Government over changing legislation regarding Warsaw’s rules on disciplining judges.
Legislation to that effect has been passed by Poland’s Parliament but President Andrzej Duda sent it to the Polish constitutional court because he believes it affects his exclusive power of making senior judicial appointments. The court has failed to resolve the matter as it is embroiled in an internal wrangle over who the country’s chief justice actually is.
It is uncertain that the EC will release the funds even if the disciplining of judges situation is resolved.
Its decision to take Poland to the European Court of Justice over the way the country’s constitutional court functions could, observers say, be used to continue the freezing of the funds because it is the constitutional court that determines whether legislation on the disciplining of judges is implemented.
The EC may also use the latest European Parliament resolution that called for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe to oversee the upcoming general elections in the autumn as an argument for holding back the funds.
Warsaw’s threat to veto the EU budget is a gamble designed to force the EC’s hand over the post-pandemic funds before the Polish elections, observers say. The ruling PiS would present any such climbdown by Brussels as evidence that its strategy of fighting for sovereignty is succeeding.
It would also welcome the €30 billion-plus in the post-pandemic funds to invest in renewable energy and digitalisation.
The Liberal opposition, led by former European Council president Donald Tusk, has been vociferous in supporting the EC and has blamed the ruling PiS for the deadlock, citing the lack of judicial reforms.
While the whole issue has been covered extensively by Polish media, there is little evidence of it having affected the poll ratings of either the PiS or the opposition.
The Polish economy has not been affected either, recording a GDP growth rate of close to 5 per cent, a balance of trade surplus and record-low unemployment in the past year.
In addition, given that Poland’s state budget has more than doubled over the past seven years, the EU funds are probably not as important to its economy as they once were.
