Polish PM: EU penalties against Warsaw ‘not a risk’

“I am not saying that we do not make mistakes, and that we could not have done some things differently,” Szydło told the TVN broadcaster on Thursday.

“However we are now being accused of trying to implement the programme which was part of our electoral promises,” Szydło said.

Her comments came a day after the EU Commission announced it is starting a probe into whether controversial laws pushed through by Szydło’s Law and Justice (PiS) government violate EU standards.

The move by the European Union, which surprised many observers, follows a slew of international criticism over changes to the judiciary and media in Poland. Critics claim these undermine democracy. The Polish government has fiercely rebutted such claims.

Szydło said that she is not afraid of sanctions being imposed by the EU on Poland because “the European Commission is not there to punish anybody, but its role is to show member states which path they should take”.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Szydło spoke to the head of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, over the phone.

“We did not talk about substantive issues, only procedural matters, in order to provide a framework to guarantee a fair debate,” Schulz said following the conversation.

He added that he is aware of the reaction which his recent critical comments aimed at the Polish government caused in the country.

Schulz recently said that the Polish government is practicing “Putin-style” politics after it pushed through controversial changes to the media and judiciary.

“Everyone has the right to comment on political events. Criticising a single party does not mean to criticise the nation as a whole,” Schulz said on Thursday. (rg)