V4 presidents say EU interfering in member states: report
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
11.10.2018 14:25
The presidents of four regional neighbours meeting in Slovakia accused EU institutions of over-interfering in the internal policies of the bloc's member states, a top aide to the Polish head of state said on Thursday.
Visegrad Group presidents including Poland's Andrzej Duda (second right) meet in Slovakia. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
"One of the shortcomings that everyone emphasised is the excessive interference of European Union institutions in the internal policies of member states,” said Krzysztof Szczerski, chief of staff to Polish President Andrzej Duda.
“Everyone also talked together about examples such as the interference of European institutions in the situation in Hungary and Poland," added Szczerski, as cited by Poland’s PAP news agency.
At a meeting in Slovakia on Thursday, Duda held talks with the presidents of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which together with Poland form a regional cooperation platform known as the Visegrad Group (V4).
Warsaw and Brussels are locked in a protracted standoff over the rule of law after Poland’s governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party introduced a slew of changes to the country's judiciary.
The European Commission last December took the unprecedented step of triggering the punitive process of the European Union treaty’s Article 7 against Poland.
Law and Justice, which came to power in late 2015, has said that sweeping changes are needed to reform an inefficient and sometimes corrupt judicial system tainted by the communist past, accusing judges of being a self-serving clique often out of touch with the problems of ordinary citizens.
(pk/gs)
Source: PAP