The new left-liberal Polish government agreed to cuts to health, agriculture and cohesion funds at the EU summit, which amounts to an outright failure to stand up for Polish interests, criticized Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Morawiecki said that the last EU summit failed to come up with the needed new resources and simply rearranged the existing budgets. He criticized Donald Tusk’s government for failing to try and hold Poland’s negotiating position and regretted that the new settlement included cuts to cohesion funds, the common agricultural policy, and healthcare so that more money could be spent on migrants from Turkey and Syria rather than tackling the situation on the eastern border of the EU.
The former Polish prime minister’s remarks came in the aftermath of the EU summit at which EU leaders agreed on the financial framework for 2021-2027 and a €50 billion support package for Ukraine — €17 billion in grants and €33 billion in loans.
Morawiecki accused the new government led by Tusk of agreeing to extend the free trade agreement with Ukraine and of planning to withdraw the embargo on Ukrainian agricultural products, which are flooding Polish markets.
He noted that despite the solidarity shown by Poland towards the millions of Ukrainian refugees, Poland was given no financial assistance. The result was that Berlin got its way and Poland was left to face a new influx of more migrants, this time from western and southern Europe.
Morawiecki also accused the new government of failing to take care of Polish security on the eastern flank of NATO, and that Poland should not have accepted decisions that weakened it.
“Poland deserves better,” he said.
