“We don’t feel obligated to implement all milestones” to unblock EU funds, says Polish coalition partner

One of the junior partners in Poland’s ruling coalition, United Poland (Solidarna Polska), has warned that it will not support all of the milestones agreed by the government with the European Commission to unlock billions of euros in Covid recovery funds.

“The final content of these so-called milestones was not the subject of any governmental or political arrangement with United Poland,” said the party’s leader, justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, on Saturday. “In this sense, we do not feel obligated to implement all the provisions contained therein.”

Most attention has focused on the milestones relating to Poland’s judiciary, with the government’s majority in parliament – including United Poland – approving a bill on Thursday that would eliminate the disciplinary chamber for judges.

However, the agreement between Warsaw and Brussels to release around €36 billion in grants and loans is far more wide-ranging, stretching to over 200 pages. It also covers issues relating to the environment, healthcare, the labour market, governance and transparency.

It is some of these other aspects that Ziobro says his party is opposed to, pointing as an example to a commitment in the agreement for Poland to “introduce a registration fee and ownership tax for emissions-related vehicles in line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle”.

“This is the latest means of implementing the insane demand of the European Parliament to eliminate these cars from the public space,” said Ziobro during a press conference, as quoted by Polsat News. “We will not agree to this type of ideological madness that will hit the pockets of Poles.”

“During certain debates around the [recovery plan], United Poland consistently called on the prime minister to veto these proposals,” added the justice minister. “They mean a significant expansion of the power of the European Commission and the creation of mechanisms enabling the blackmail of states that do not comply.”

Another leading figure from his party, MEP Patryk Jaki, said that “these additional taxes will mean a deterioration in the quality of life of Poles, because few people can afford electric cars”.

By contrast, western European countries can afford to meet these costs because they are richer, said Jaki. One reason for this is that, for example, Germany invaded Poland in World War Two, as a result of which Poland lost resources, added Jaki, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Another party colleague, Janusz Kowalski, noted that the EU is also trying to prevent Poland from exploiting its coal reserves. “Maybe this was in the interest of Germany, but not everything that is in the interest of Germany is in the interest of Poland,” said Kowalski.

A government spokesman, however, sought to play down United Poland’s criticism. Piotr Müller – who hails from the Law and Justice (PiS) party that dominates the ruling coalition – assured that the recovery plan agreed with the EU “does not contain harmful solutions in the areas of taxation and fees”.

“They are regulated in detail at the statutory level and can be adjusted and compensated accordingly,” explained Müller. He suggested that perhaps United Poland had “misunderstood some of the provisions” due to “the baseless allegations of the opposition”.

Earlier this week, Müller had also announced that the government is “not planning to increase registration fees for internal combustion vehicles” and instead wants to “lower [fees] and create incentives for low-emission and electric cars”.

Since the PiS-led coalition was reelected in 2019, United Poland has often positioned itself further to the eurosceptic hard right than PiS. Ziobro has accused the EU of mounting a “hybrid war” against Poland and has accused the PiS prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, of “agreed to the diktat of Brussels and Berlin”.

United Poland has 20 MPs, more than enough to deny the government a majority in parliament if it rebels and PiS cannot obtain votes from opposition parties.

Earlier this month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Warsaw to announce that the Polish government and commission had agreed on the milestones necessary to unblock Poland’s frozen funds.

After parliament passed the bill eliminating the disciplinary chamber for judges on Thursday, opposition MPs and some experts warned that the measures were not enough to ensure the independence of the judiciary and fail to meet the commission’s demands.

Main image credit: Maciek Jazwiecki / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.