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EU unlawfully denies Poland funds from common budget: Justice Minister

Poland should suspend payments to the EU budget and veto EU policies if Brussels intensifies the dispute and cuts funds for Warsaw, said Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro in an interview for the Financial Times (FT) on Sunday.

Mr Ziobro assessed that the European Commission would act “illegally” if it used new powers (the conditionality mechanism) to withhold funds for Poland in connection with the dispute over the rule of law.

As FT recalls, due to the dispute, the European Commission has already delayed the approval of the payment of EUR 36 bn for Poland from the pandemic reconstruction fund, but the European Parliament is pressing the European Commission to use the so-called conditionality mechanism to take further action.

Warsaw and Brussels are in dispute over changes in the Polish judicial system, which, according to the Commission, threaten the independence of courts. The Polish government stresses that changes are necessary to repair the inefficient judicial system.

Mr Ziobro told FT that he expected the EU to pull back. But he added that if the conditionality mechanism, which Poland and Hungary have challenged in court, is used against Warsaw, he will demand retaliation.

“Poland should respond to the EU’s blackmail with a veto on all matters that require unanimity in the EU. Poland should also revise its commitment to the EU climate and energy policy, which results in drastic increases in energy prices, ”he said.

“If this dispute escalates, I will demand that Poland suspend payments to the EU. It would be justified because the EU is unlawfully denying us funds from the common budget, to which we are also contributing,” he added.

“I want Poland in the EU, but as an independent country that will not be relegated to the status of a federal state province,” he said.

Mr Ziobro said he could “allow the possibility” of dissolving the Disciplinary Chamber as part of the reform of the Supreme Court “and the entire judicial system that we have prepared.” But it would be “unacceptable” to overturn previous Disciplinary Chamber decisions or allow judges to challenge the status of appointed judges since the government began reforming the judiciary.

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