Daily Times

Polish President Andrzej Duda has said he is opposed to new concessions being made to the European Commission, which has blocked Covid recovery funds to Warsaw in a row over judicial independence. “I won’t offer any more answers to suggestions from the other side,” Duda said in an interview with the Sieci weekly to be published Monday, extracts of which appeared at the weekend on the pro-government website wpolityce.pl. “To my knowledge, we have fulfilled all the conditions to receive the recovery plan funds,” he added. Warsaw is due 35.4 billion euros, including 23.9 billion euros in direct subsidies to finance its recovery from the Covid pandemic. The European Union has refused to pay the funds until Poland rolls back legislation it says encroaches on the independence of the country’s judiciary.

A European Court of Justice ruling a year ago put added pressure on Warsaw, imposing a daily fine of one million euros until the laws were changed. Poland has made some changes to its laws in response but the European Commission has deemed they do not go far enough. Duda also claimed in the interview that “the left liberal camp, whose representatives are in the majority in the Commission, wants at all costs to provoke a change of power in Poland”. According to media reports, Poland’s ruling nationalist conservative government is divided over its stance in the row with Brussels, in particular over an impartiality test for judges. Some within the ruling party favour offering more changes to satisfy Brussels’ demands, while others are opposed.