Germany has been accused of trying to turn the European Union into a federal “German Fourth Reich” by the head of Poland’s ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Speaking to the Polish daily GPC, the leader of Law and Justice (PiS) said that some countries “are not enthusiastic at the prospect of a German Fourth Reich being built on the basis of the EU”.
“If we Poles agreed with this kind of modern-day submission we would be degraded in different ways”, said Mr Kaczynski, who is also a deputy prime minister, on Friday.
He added that the EU’s Court of Justice was being used as an “instrument” for federalist ideas.
Poland has been involved in a lengthy stand-off with the European Union, particularly over the judicial reforms that PiS has pushed through since 2015.
In the latest twist, the EU this week said it was launching legal action against Poland for ignoring EU law and undermining judicial independence, which could lead to Warsaw facing huge fines in the European Court of Justice.
A ruling in October by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal challenged the primacy of EU law and threw Poland’s future in the European Union into doubt, with critics branding it a step towards a “legal Polexit”. EU membership remains supported by most Poles.
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On Wednesday, Brussels said it had “serious concerns with respect to the Polish Constitutional Tribunal and its recent case law” and questioned its independence.
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Poland has accused the EU of “bureaucratic centralism”.
During German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Warsaw earlier this month, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the current German government’s support for EU federalism was “utopian and therefore dangerous”.
Source: yahoo
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