Polish President Andrzej Duda criticized the European Commission for blocking EU funds in what he called an “attempt to force Poland to change” its government, adding that he was open to talks on changes to the justice system, Reuters reported, citing news. ro

The last Polish government, led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, was embroiled in a dispute with the European Union over judicial reforms in Warsaw and the rule of law, which resulted in the blocking of billions of euros in EU funds for Poland.

The new pro-European government has promised to restore access to the money by restoring the rule of law, but faces resistance from supporters and allies of the former ruling party, including President Duda and senior judges.

“I have no doubt what was the purpose of blocking money from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) by the European Commission. It was a purely political action against the previous Polish government,” Duda said during a press conference on Sunday. conference in Vilnius. “The attempt to force Poland to change the government, that’s how I perceived it, that’s how I perceive it, and the current events only confirm it,” he added.

The spokesperson of the European Commission stated that there is still work to be done with Poland so that all stages of the recovery and resilience mechanism are completed. “The Polish government has expressed its willingness to cooperate with the Commission to fully meet benchmarks on the independence of the judiciary,” a spokesman said in response to Reuters’ request for comment.

On the other hand, President Duda said that he is open to negotiations and proposals for various changes in the Polish judicial system, but assured that he will not allow any review of the judges who were appointed during his mandate.

Elections on October 15 ended eight years of PiS rule, and a new government led by former European Council President Donald Tusk promised to restore access to EU funds withheld by the European bloc.

In December, the European Commission said it would transfer to Warsaw 5 billion euros of the 60 billion euros owed to Poland through the bloc’s program to boost economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Saturday, Polish Minister of Finance and Regional Policy Katarzyna Pelczyńska-Nalecz told private television TVN24 that Poland has fulfilled the conditions and can provide the relevant documents for access to EU structural funds. We are talking about funds in the amount of 76 billion euros from the budget of the European Union for the period 2021-2027. The European Commission said Poland had formally informed it that it believed it had met the rule of law conditions needed to receive the money, but that it was still being assessed in Brussels.