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Poland’s likely next prime minister Donald Tusk travelled to Brussels and vowed to use all possible methods to unlock tens of billions of euros frozen by the EU owing to concerns over the country’s rule of law standards, despite not having taken office yet.
Tusk is still waiting for the Polish president to nominate him as premier but on Wednesday began two days of talks with EU leaders in a bid to fast-track the release of funds and reverse years of soured ties between Warsaw and the European Commission.
“This purpose today is to rebuild the position of my country in Europe,” he told reporters ahead of talks with commission president Ursula von der Leyen and a summit of centre-right leaders on Thursday.
“I am here as the leader of the opposition, not as the prime minister, but time is of the essence,” he said. “I had to take this initiative before any final decisions are made, because all methods, including non-standard ones, must be used to save the money that Poland deserves.”
At stake is more than €34bn in EU funds earmarked for Poland but currently frozen — the result of years of antagonism and disagreement between the commission and the rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which Brussels holds responsible for judicial reforms that imperil the rule of law, and social policies that breach the EU’s regulations.
Tusk’s remarks are also aimed at putting pressure on Poland’s president Andrzej Duda, who is a PiS ally and has so far signalled no intention to speed up the transition of power, a process that could extend into December.
Duda has delayed an announcement on when the next parliament will convene and is expected to give PiS the first chance to form a new government. PiS won 35 per cent of the October 15 vote but has no obvious path to form a ruling majority.
EU officials, however, have warned that Tusk’s push to unlock his country’s funds may be harder and take longer than many of his supporters hope, given the complexity of the distrustful relationship and the political dangers of untangling it.
Poland has not been able to tap any of the €22.5bn in grants and €11.5bn in loans, its share of the bloc’s pandemic recovery fund that other countries began spending in 2021. Brussels has frozen Warsaw’s access to that money pending reforms to protect the independence of judges, after it deemed that the PiS-led government had set up a politically motivated chamber to discipline judges.
“The rhetoric around Tusk and what he wants to do with us is completely welcome,” said one senior commission official involved with negotiations with Poland. “But there’s a danger here of expecting too much, too soon.”
Didier Reynders, the EU’s justice commissioner, told the Financial Times shortly after the Polish election that he was positive about Tusk’s potential “to unlock the money” if he was able to bring the required reforms.
But officials caution against any moves that would make Tusk appear to be meddling in the Polish judiciary in a way that could be comparable to PiS’s political over-reach and interventionism. Duda could also complicate Tusk’s planned judicial overhaul since he wields significant powers over legislation and appointments of judges.
“The problem with doing anything to the justice system is once it has been fiddled with, it’s broken,” said the senior commission official. “Any changes are political. If Tusk now tries to fix it, he’s going to need to fiddle with it even more.”
During his election campaign, Tusk promised to visit Brussels the day after winning the election to get the EU funds released.
The commission is, however, under pressure from the European parliament to stick to the milestones and procedures it used to justify freezing Poland’s funds, and not show political bias towards Tusk.
“I believe that the next Polish government . . . will mean that the people of Poland will be in a position to benefit from the funds,” said Siegfried Mureşan, a Romanian MEP who sits on the budget committee and is part of Tusk’s centre-right political family, the European People’s party.
“What is important is that the new government is managing expectations of the people of Poland very carefully, not overpromising, and telling the people in a very transparent way what can be delivered . . . and in what timeframe,” he said.
