WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Poland’s most powerful politician says the country’s future lies in the European Union and that there will be no “Polexit”, but that Poland wants to remain a sovereign country.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is the head of the Conservative Party of Law and Justice, made his comments in an interview with state news agency PAP that was published on Wednesday.
It follows some harsh comments last week on the 27-member bloc of some key members of his party that led many opposition politicians to accuse the country’s leadership of trying to pull the country out of the EU.
Some political observers in Poland, where support for EU membership is very high, also fear that harsh comments about the EU could put Poland on a path to leaving the bloc by accident.
But Kaczynski told PAP that Poland will not follow Britain’s example and will not leave the EU.
“There will be no Polexit. It is a propaganda invention that has been used many times against us, “said Kaczynski, who is also deputy prime minister.” We see unequivocally the future of Poland in the European Union. “
Last week, two senior law and justice officials made strong comments about the EU after the bloc withdrew to financially punish Poland for actions that would increase the ruling party’s control over the courts. Brussels says they are violating the rule of law.
Ryszard Terlecki, deputy director of the party, said that if things do not go as they like Poland, “we will have to look for drastic solutions.”
“The British showed that the dictatorship of the Brussels bureaucracy did not suit them and they turned around and left,” he said.
Marek Suski, another important member of the party, said Poland will “fight the occupier of Brussels” just as it fought the Nazi and Soviet occupiers in the past.
Suski added: “Brussels is sending us gentlemen who are supposed to bring Poland to order, who put us on our knees so that we can be a German state and not a proud state of free Poles.”
Poland accuses the EU of violating its sovereignty by opposing changes in the country’s judicial system introduced by the government, led by law and justice.
Kaczynski argued that the rule of law is only an area of responsibility of member states and “cannot be subject to the kind of interference that is currently taking place.”
In his view, member states are not being treated equally, which goes against the principles of the bloc.
“We want to be in the (European) Union, but at the same time we want to remain a sovereign state,” he said. “We want what was agreed in the treaties to be respected very strictly.”
However, the EU argues that, as the EU legal order is integrated, it is essential to protect the independence of the courts in each member state.