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Presidential adviser slams ‘personal crusade’ against Poland

PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk 20.02.2017 12:04
A senior adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda has accused the vice-President of the European Commission of waging a “personal crusade” against Poland.
Krzysztof Szczerski. Photo: Adrian Grycuk/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0 plKrzysztof Szczerski. Photo: Adrian Grycuk/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0 pl

Meanwhile, former left-wing Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller called on Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans to “stop putting Poland in a corner.”

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski and Timmermans traded pointed comments on Friday at a Munich security conference.

Timmermans said the principle of the rule of law dictates that EU member nations do not interfere with their countries’ justice system.

"There is no provision anywhere in law that requires a country to have a Constitutional Tribunal, but if you have a Constitutional Tribunal, in line with your constitution, then please do respect the rules of your own constitution," said Timmermans.

‘Please allow us to respect our own constitution’

Waszczykowski answered: "Please allow us to respect our own constitution, not your vision of our constitution."

Krzysztof Szczerski, a senior adviser to President Duda, told Polish Radio he was “concerned” at Timmermans’s stance on Poland.

“On the sidelines of the Munich Conference he continued his personal crusade against Poland," Szczerski said.

He added Timmermans’s attitude should spark "a formal response” from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.

‘Exceeding mandate’

“It seems to me that he [Timmermans] is far exceeding the mandate that the Vice-President of the European Commission has under the treaties,” Szczerski said.

Meanwhile, Polish ex-PM Miller, former leader of the Democratic Left Alliance party, told the private Polsat broadcaster that Timmermans should not speak out “too often” because he comes from a country which does not have a Constitutional Court.

The Netherlands “has a constitutional ban on courts assessing the conformity of laws with the constitution,” Miller added.

“I would prefer that this matter, which concerns Poland, to be handled by someone other than Mr. Timmermans. Let him just finish with this, let him acknowledge his mission as completed... let him stop putting Poland into a corner,” Miller added.

(pk)

Source: PAP/Polsat News

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