EU mulls legal action against Poland

The European Commission is considering legal action and withholding funds in response to a ruling from a court in Poland that rejected key parts of European Union law.

Initiating heated debate in the European Parliament on Tuesday, Ursula von der Leyen, the commission's president, said Poland was "calling into question the foundations of the European Union" and that action must be taken to protect the bloc's common values, reported Reuters.

"It is a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order," she said.

In response, Agence France-Presse reported that Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused the bloc of overstepping its competences.

"It is unacceptable to talk about financial penalties… I will not have EU politicians blackmail Poland," he said.

Morawiecki insisted that Poland's place was in the EU, but that EU law derived from its treaties only applied in specified areas.

"EU competencies have clear boundaries, we must not remain silent when those boundaries are breached. So we are saying yes to European universalism, but we say no to European centralism," he said.

Poland's Constitutional Court ruled on Oct 7 that the country's laws had primacy over those of the EU, pushing the country's relationship with Brussels into crisis.

Common values

"We cannot and we will not allow our common values to be put at risk," von der Leyen said. "The European Commission is, at the moment, carefully assessing this judgment. But I can already tell you: I am deeply concerned."

She said legal, financial and political options were being considered.

The BBC said Morawiecki rejected "the language of threats" and accused the EU of overstepping its powers.

The Financial Times reported that the EU is under pressure from some member states, including France and Germany, to harden its stance against Poland.

The paper noted that Morawiecki insisted in his speech that European integration had been a "civilizational and strategic choice" for his country, and that his government was part of the "pro-European majority in Poland".

"If the institutions created in the treaties exceed their powers, member states have to have a tool to respond," said Morawiecki to lawmakers.

"The EU is a great achievement of the states in Europe. It is a powerful economic, political and social alliance. It is the strongest, most developed international organization in history. But the EU is not a state."

Prior to speaking in parliament, Morawiecki accused the bloc in a letter to EU leaders of "starving "and "punishing" his country by withholding billions of euros in pandemic recovery funds over the row, reported the Daily Mail newspaper.