Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has clashed with the European Fee president and MEPs after accusing EU establishments of searching for to show the nation right into a province, in an escalation of the battle between Warsaw and Brussels over the rule of legislation.

Throughout a heated debate within the European parliament in Strasbourg, the place parallels between the Polish state of affairs and Brexit have been raised repeatedly by MEPs, Morawiecki claimed the European courtroom of justice (ECJ) was liable for a “creeping revolution” undermining Poland’s sovereignty.

He additional accused unnamed “EU politicians” of searching for to blackmail his authorities into acceding to a “central energy”, in reference to calls to chop Poland’s funding from Brussels over the latest ruling by the nation’s constitutional courtroom that key components of EU legislation have been incompatible with the Polish structure.

The event has been portrayed as a again door “Polexit” by commentators and a few senior politicians, together with France’s EU affairs minister, Clément Beaune.

Morawiecki stated his authorities wouldn’t act in defiance of the constitutional courtroom, as he challenged the EU’s establishments to place a imaginative and prescient of the union as a sovereign state to the folks. He condemned speak of Poland’s authorized exit from the EU as “lies”.

“Have been we to comply with the central precept it might imply that the EU ceases to be an affiliation of sovereign states and by fait accompli, the EU is transferred right into a centrally ruled European state the place European establishments can pressure the so-called provinces to do because the central energy needs. This isn’t what we agreed within the treaties,” Morawiecki stated.

“What is required is a sovereign determination about sovereign choices by sovereign member states. So now what we are able to do is we are able to comply with all makes an attempt to restrict the sovereignty of Poland and we are able to comply with the creeping growth of the competences of the European courtroom of legislation – what we’re seeing now’s a creeping revolution going down by the use of verdicts of the European courtroom of justice – or we are able to say no. If you’d like a supranational state in Europe, why don’t you ask and get consent from all of the sovereign member states.”

Poland’s ruling Legislation and Justice social gathering and the European Fee, backed by the European parliament, have been in a continuing battle for the final 5 years over adjustments to the nation’s judiciary, which it’s claimed undermine their independence.

The ECJ not too long ago stated {that a} new process for the appointment of members of Poland’s Supreme Court docket amounted to a violation of EU legislation.

The problem has come to a head with the ruling this month by Poland’s high courtroom that primary articles of the bloc’s treaties, together with that member states would take “acceptable measures” to fulfil their obligations beneath EU legislation, weren’t binding.

Ursula von der Leyen, the fee president, who spoke earlier than Morawiecki in debate on Tuesday morning, stated she was “deeply involved” that the Polish courtroom’s judgment had put the way forward for the EU as a group of member states beneath frequent legislation in query.

She stated: “We now have been involved concerning the independence of the judiciary for a while. Judges have seen their immunity being lifted, and have been pushed out of workplace with out justification.

“And this threatens judicial independence, which is a primary pillar of the rule of legislation. We now have taken various measures. We proceed to have a daily dialogue. However sadly, the state of affairs has worsened. And this isn’t solely the fee’s opinion. That is what has been confirmed by the European courtroom of justice and the European courtroom of human rights. And now this has culminated in the newest ruling of the Polish constitutional courtroom.”

Von der Leyen stated the fee had numerous choices together with leveraging a brand new “conditionality mechanism and different monetary instruments” to chop funding from Brussels via the EU finances and pandemic restoration fund.

Man Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, was amongst various MEPs who accused the Polish authorities of utilizing the language of the Brexiters within the UK.

The parliament will vote on a decision on Thursday that “deeply deplores the choice of the illegitimate ‘constitutional tribunal’ of seven October 2021 as an assault on the European group of values and legal guidelines as a complete”.

It can additional commend the “tens of hundreds of Polish residents for taking to the streets in peaceable mass protests, preventing for his or her rights and freedoms as European residents”.

Terry Reintke, a German Inexperienced MEP, addressing Morawiecki, sitting to her left, accused the prime minister of appearing just like the Russian president Vladimir Putin in searching for to destabilise the EU. She stated: “The vast majority of the Polish residents disagree with you – they wish to stay in a powerful Poland in a powerful European Union.”

Morawiecki responded with a jibe in opposition to Germany’s authorities for permitting the development of Nord Stream 2, quoting a politician who had described it as a “modern-day Molotov-Ribbentrop pact”, in reference to the pre-war settlement between Germany and the Soviet Union.

Von der Leyen, a former German defence minister, responded: “With coming with Nord Stream 2, your arguments will not be getting higher, you’re simply escaping the controversy.”