Polish PM holds talks with German Chancellor

"The talks focused on current issues on the European agenda and were associated with preparations for the forthcoming European Council summit in Brussels,” Polish government spokesman Rafał Bochenek said.

“Prime Minister Beata Szydło and Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to hold further consultations before the start of the meeting of the European Council," Bochenek added.

EU leaders meet at a summit on 9-10 March in Brussels to discuss the economy, security and migration.

The summit is also expected to choose a European Council president for a term running from June 1 to November 30, 2019.

During a recent meeting of EU leaders in Malta, Donald Tusk said he was ready to continue in the role for a second term. His first two-and-a-half-year term is due to end on 31 May.

But Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland’s governing Law and Justice (PiS), said earlier this week that Tusk cannot count on the party's support in his run for a second term.

Kaczyński said Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, openly supports the opposition in Poland, which "does not conceal that it wants to overthrow the government by unconstitutional means”.

Kaczyński also accused Tusk of violating EU “principles of neutrality” regarding the internal affairs of EU countries.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that Warsaw has floated a plan to replace Tusk with another candidate for European Council president.

Poland’s PAP news agency cited what it described as sources close to Polish diplomats involved in negotiations as saying that “Tusk is under no circumstances acceptable to us” as European Council president.

“We will argue this hard. This is about the involvement of Tusk in Polish domestic affairs,” PAP cited a prominent politician as saying, adding that the latter was familiar with negotiations conducted by the Polish authorities and directly involved in them.

(pk)

Source: PAP