Poland is not afraid of losing European Union (EU) funds, the Polish Prime Minister said on Tuesday, a day after the European Commission warned it could forfeit most development money unless the court system is fixed.
Warsaw has been on a collision course with Brussels in recent years on issues from illegal immigrants and the politicisation of Poland’s judiciary to climate change and LGBT rights.
On Monday, a spokesman for the EU’s executive said the country could lose the vast majority of 75 billion euros of development funds given that Warsaw is not meeting “democratic standards on judicial independence”.
“I do not think that the funds from the EU – the cohesion funds, the agricultural funds, and the funds for innovations and others – are at risk,” Mateusz Morawiecki said during a news conference.
“The first funds are already flowing in. Maybe these are not large funds…most likely in the next few months, most likely the first advanced payments will be released,” he said.
