WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th December, 2020) Poland did not make concessions in the row over a rule of law mechanism and sees the final deal on the European Union's budget as a victory, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said.
Following the first day of the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, European Council President Charles Michel said that the leaders had come to an agreement on the bloc's proposed 1.8 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) seven-year budget and COVID-19 recovery fund. Since November, Poland and Hungary had been refusing to give their go-ahead to the spending plans in opposition to the bloc's attempts to make access to EU funds contingent on the observance of democratic values and respect for the rule of law.
"The agreement that we have reached is a double victory. First, the EU budget can come into force, and Poland will receive 770 billion zlotys [$211 billion] from it. Secondly, this money is safe, because the conditionality mechanism was limited by very concrete criteria. Today's conditions block a possibility of changing these rules in the future without Poland's consent. The European Commission will be required to use the criteria that exactly reflect the European Council conclusions that we have just adopted," Morawiecki wrote on Facebook.
The Polish leader added that "we have not given ground on a single provision agreed a few days ago jointly with Hungary and the German presidency."
According to the prime minister, these funds will help Poland "develop faster and bridge the gap with the richest countries in Europe."
