“I have never apologized for what Patryk Jaki said in the European Parliament to Andrzej Halicki,” Nicola Procaccini, co-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), declared on Tuesday. The matter concerns an exchange with Patryk Jaki, who allegedly fell afoul of the group he co-leads.
On Monday, during the opening of the four-day EP sitting in Strasbourg, Law and Justice (PiS) MEP Patryk Jaki called for a debate on the spending of National Recovery Plan (KPO) funds in Poland. He raised doubts about funds allocated in Poland to support companies in the hospitality sector. Jaki said that millions of euros had been spent “on 107 yachts, a tanning bed in a pizzeria, a swingers’ club, [and] techno parties on a balcony.”
Civic Platform (PO) MEP Andrzej Halicki responded, accusing Jaki of hypocrisy and stating that Poland had never been so transparent.
On Tuesday, Halicki commented on the PiS MEP’s speech, which—he said—was an attempt to freeze or halt financing of projects under the KPO on the pretext of improperly spent funds.
“It seems to me that this attempt was received very poorly, even within the ECR group. Suffice it to say that the head of that group, Nicola Procaccini, apologized to me for that speech,” the PO MEP emphasized.
Procaccini co-chairs the ECR group in the European Parliament together with Jaki. The Italian belongs to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which, along with PiS, co-forms the ECR.
“I have never apologized for what Patryk Jaki said in the chamber to Andrzej Halicki,” Procaccini said in a statement. “This claim is false. Halicki and I agreed to arrange a meeting—nothing more,” he announced.
The meeting between the Italian and Halicki is to take place on Wednesday.