European Union: the Polish stone in the cogs of the Brussels summit which opens on Thursday

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during his speech to MEPs in Strasbourg on October 19, 2021. REUTERS - POOL

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

On the eve of the opening in Brussels of the European summit on Thursday and Friday, the standoff between the European Commission and Poland crystallized on Tuesday.

Before MEPs in Strasbourg, the President of the European Commission assures us that the EU will not let itself be trodden on after the primacy of Union law has been called into question by the Polish constitutional court.

The Polish Prime Minister denounces blackmail.

Meanwhile in Luxembourg, several European ministers do not hide their concerns about a worsening blockage.

The European summit is likely to be lively as the President of the Commission emphasizes that her services are examining in detail the instruments available and the response to be adopted ...

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Many EU member countries are in favor of a freeze on payments of European funds to Poland. Against the “

questioning of the European political project

”, the French Minister of European Affairs recommends using “the means available to the Union”. A firmness shared by all the countries of the West of the continent.

For the Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean Asselborn, Europe would not "survive the end of the rule of law".

“

If you challenge the rule of law, you do it for a reason.

And this reason is the maintenance of power,

he hammered at the microphone of our special

correspondent

in Strasbourg,

Carlotta Morteo.

Europe cannot accept this.

Europe was built on democracy, freedom, respect - and the rule of law on which we agreed must be respected.

That's all.

 "

►

To read also

: The primacy of European law, what is it?

This is also the position, in particular in Northern Europe, of the group of countries nicknamed "thrifty" or "frugal", moreover very irritated by the prospect of seeing European taxpayers' money misappropriated. “

You should know that the strong Polish growth is partly due to the financing of European structural funds,

recalled Guillaume Klossa, founder of the think tank Europa Nova, interviewed by

Nicolas Feldmann

. European funds benefit Polish infrastructure, Polish universities, Polish agriculture. So Poland's current success in terms of growth is due to its funding and Polish European citizens are extremely aware of and value it.

 "

The Polish Prime Minister tried this Monday to frame the debate which will take place on the occasion of the European summit: Mateusz Morawiecki wrote to his counterparts to accuse the European Commission of technocratic drift without democratic control.

The thesis of the lack of legitimacy of the Union's institutions has long been used by sovereignist parties and the Polish Prime Minister should be supported by his traditional partners in Central Europe, namely his Czech and especially Hungarian counterparts, reports our correspondent at Brussels,

Pierre Benazet

. 

Should we consider leaving Poland from the EU, a “Polexit”?

Faced with these tensions, some are already talking about Poland's exit from the European Union, a scenario that is not possible according to Sébastien Maillard, director of the Jacques Delors Institute, joined by

Oriane Verdier

.

“ 

You can't imagine a European Union without Poland.

* It is a major country which has its place, which has no interest in leaving.

So the interest of each one is to evolve, it is not to remain in this situation which is effectively, legally untenable.

Perhaps the solution is on the one hand, to be very firm vis-à-vis Warsaw, on respect for the rule of law, but in the strict sense of the rule of law.

That is to say effectively the independence of the judicial authority, freedom of expression, the media, the opposition ...

All this is a huge problem and not only in Poland… And to reassure Poland (on the fact that) that European law takes precedence over national law, European law does not venture into areas where it is has no jurisdiction.

I am thinking in particular of social issues or sensitive societal values

 ”.

Subjects that are not subject to European law and on which we know that Poland does not have the same approach as the Netherlands, for example, concludes Sébastien Maillard.

►

Also to listen

: Jean-Louis Bourlanges, MEP from 1989 to 2007, MP for Hauts-de-Seine since 2017, is the morning guest of RFI

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