President Duda calls for greater freedoms in EU

Following a meeting on Wednesday with his counterpart Andrej Kiska, Duda said that Britons’ decision to leave the European Union, taken in last week’s referendum, indicates that European communities “want an EU that provides assistance, gives freedom and not one which gets in the way of and makes demands” on individual member states.

Duda added that this conviction is shared by the older member states, who “want an EU of the kind the bloc was meant to be from the start and one which helped these countries become economic powerhouses.”

“We will take on such a course in our proposals, tightening collaboration both within the framework of the Visegrad Group and the European Union,” Duda said.

Warsaw has clashed with Brussels on a number of issues following sweeping reforms by the conservative ruling Law and Justice party after it took power in Poland last October.

These include changes to the country’s Constitutional Tribunal, new surveillance legislation and a reform of state media.

A rule-of-law procedure launched by the European Commission is underway.

The European human rights commissioner has recently called on the Law and Justice government to "urgently change course", saying that the ongoing overhaul of the country's laws threaten “human rights and undermine the rule of law."

In mid-June, the European Commission initiated proceedings against Poland over extensive timber logging in the eastern Białowieża forest, Europe's last ancient woodland. (aba)

Source: PAP