Skip to main content
By

Poland fury over 'attack' by EU's Tusk

The Polish government has accused EU Council President Donald Tusk of "attacking Poland" after he voiced alarm at the government's policies.
"Today, by using his position to attack the Polish government, he is attacking Poland," Prime Minister Beata Szydlo tweeted. Her nationalist government has been in power for two years.
Earlier Mr Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, linked her government to a "Kremlin plan", without elaborating.
The two leaders have long been rivals.
Ms Szydlo's Law and Justice Party (PiS) is in dispute with the European Commission on several fronts: its refusal to accept refugees under an EU relocation scheme; its encouragement of logging in an ancient forest; and its refashioning of Poland's media and judiciary. The commission accuses PiS of jeopardising EU rule of law values.
In a tweet in Polish on Sunday, Mr Tusk. a centre-right liberal, said: "Alarm! Severe dispute with Ukraine, isolation within the European Union, departure from the rule of law and judicial independence, attack on the nongovernmental sector and free media. Is this a Law and Justice strategy or a Kremlin plan? Too similar to sleep peacefully."
Mr Tusk's reference to the Kremlin appeared to link PiS to alleged Russian interference in EU countries and Ukraine.
logging in Bialowieza forestImage copyrightAFP/ GETTY IMAGES
Image captionLogging in the protected Bialowieza forest is among the disputes between Poland and Brussels

Poland-Ukraine tensions

Poland has been one of the most vocal critics of Russia since Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014 and backed pro-Russian separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
In recent years Poland has backed Ukraine's drive for closer ties with the EU, but much bitterness remains in Polish-Ukrainian relations.
A row erupted on Saturday when Polish border guards refused to allow in the head of Ukraine's commemoration commission, Svyatoslav Sheremet.
Poland's state-owned news agency PAP said the move was in response to a Ukrainian ban on the exhumation of Poles killed in Ukraine during World War Two.
Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski also reacted angrily to Mr Tusk's tweet, calling it "a desperate scream of frustration".
Mr Tusk "has been unable to carve out an active role in European politics for himself, so he is trying to plunge back into Polish politics", he said.
In March Ms Szydlo tried and failed to block the European Council's reappointment of Mr Tusk as council president, at an EU summit. She was the only leader to oppose Mr Tusk among the 28 member states.
There is speculation that Mr Tusk is preparing for a presidential bid in Poland once he completes his tenure in Brussels.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

By
Osinbajo tasks D8 countries to depend less on oil Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has tasked D8 countries to depend less on oil as it becomes increasingly less attractive in terms of revenue generation and focus more on diversifying to other sources of revenues. Osinbajo made this remark in Abuja on Tuesday while declaring open the 6th Meeting of D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Industrial Cooperation. The D-8, also known as Developing 8, was set up officially on June 15, 1997 with member countries as Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. The Vice President told the representatives of the countries that Nigeria is committed to working with the various Task Forces of the D-8 Ministerial Meeting on Industrial Cooperation to the targets of the founders of the D8 Organization. He said the ultimate goal of the D8 countries is to promote industrial development and other economic activities in the global economy using the same platform to f...
Post a Comment
Read more
By
YABATECH graduate abused for damaging car commits suicide Barely two weeks to the commencement of his one year National Youth Service Scheme, a graduate of the Yaba College of Technology,Oluwamuyiwa Oluwagbemileke, aka Spartacus , has ended his life. The 27-year-old graduate of electrical engineering reportedly took a poison on Wednesday after he was blamed for damaging a car in a sachet water factory in Ojodu Berger, Lagos, where he worked. PUNCH Metro learnt that he had hit the vehicle on another one on the factory premises while trying to help the owner re-park it. The Osogbo, Osun State indigene, was said to have become desperate to raise N50,000 to repair the damaged car. In a suicide note he posted on Facebook , a few hours before the incident, he hinted that he was depressed. He wrote, “When a man’s life is unstable, worried, downcast and destabilised, things he does right before will become wrong no matter the best he puts in. He loses focus and strength;...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sarah Sanders' absolutely unreal explanation of Trump's anti-Muslim video tweets

By
Sarah Sanders' absolutely unreal explanation of Trump's anti-Muslim video tweets Washington (CNN) On Wednesday morning,  President Donald Trump retweeted three videos purportedly showing Muslims committing acts of violence against Christians . He did so despite the fact that the videos came from a far-right, anti-Muslim group in Britain and remain unverified. Which is all beside the point, according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. "Whether it is a real video, the threat is real,"  Sanders told reporters Wednesday morning . "That is what the President is talking about, that is what the President is focused on is dealing with those real threats, and those are real no matter how you look at it." When pressed on the difference between the videos being real or fake, Sanders replied, "I'm not talking about the nature of the video. I think you're focusing on the wrong thing. The threat is real, and that's what the Preside...
Post a Comment
Read more