“Poland is not a country that will obey the line of any other nation under financial blackmail,” declared newly elected President Karol Nawrocki in an interview with TV Republika. He was responding to threats made by a German Member of the European Parliament regarding European Union funds.
“The vote of confidence that Poland received after the parliamentary elections has run out. The grace period for resolving issues of the rule of law in Poland has come to an end. The Polish government must now pass all the laws necessary to restore the rule of law. If the newly elected president vetoes the required reforms, the EU will have to freeze funds for Poland again,”
said German MEP Moritz Koerner following Karol Nawrocki’s presidential election victory.
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On Thursday evening, in an interview with TV Republika, the president-elect responded to these remarks:
“If the MEP thinks he can apply financial or economic blackmail against a proud nation with over a thousand years of tradition, and against a president elected by the Polish people, then he is mistaken,”
he said.
“We have the right to decide Poland’s future, to build a partnership with Germany in which it must be made clear that we want to resolve the issue of war reparations. We have the right, despite good trade and financial relations with Germany, to protect our western border and to ensure we are not flooded with illegal immigrants,”
he declared.
He added:
“I think this politician — and I don’t know how many like him there are in Germany — should get used to the fact that Poland is an independent country, has no inferiority complex, and will continue to develop despite such statements.”
Referring to the fact that the EU has previously withheld funds from Poland, he stated he is not afraid of this, noting that during the election campaign, he was also subjected to financial blackmail.
“In the internal political dispute, it was possible to win the presidential election without money, without financial resources, without subsidies that were unlawfully withheld from the party that supported me — Law and Justice (PiS). Therefore, when I hear financial blackmail from an MEP, I believe he needs to revisit certain topics in international relations,”
he said.
“Poland is not a country that will comply with the line of any other state because of financial blackmail. We are neighbours. We want to build a partnership, and from what I know, this is the same European Union that remained silent for six months during an election campaign that was often unequal and, at times, not in accordance with the law,”
he emphasized.