Poland told to ‘respect the rules’ of EU club in rule-of-law row
The argument now distracting and dominating the European Union is an unequal battle with the potential for far-reaching consequences.
On one side is Poland, enthusiastically supported by Hungary, and determined to prove that one of the fundamental tenets of European solidarity isn’t so fundamental after all.
On the other side is, well, just about everyone else. Some of them pressing for a conciliatory “let’s not be too harsh” debate; others wanting to go in hard.
The cause of all this anger is one of those bits of domestic news that sounds dry but has explosive potential.
Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo speaks to journalists at the summit
In short, the country’s top court, acting on a request from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, declared that, in some areas, the national constitution took precedence over European law.
And that has set great, big alarm bells ringing. Because the golden rule of EU Club is that EU Club laws always come first. They must take primacy, to coin a phrase that has popped up a lot over the past few days.
“If you want to have the advantages of being in a club, then you need to respect the rules,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said. “You can’t be a member of a club and say ‘the rules don’t apply to me’.”
The Polish Prime Minister does not agree, accusing the EU of “blackmail” because of suggestions that Poland could now face sanctions. He said his country was “ready for dialogue” but refused to distance himself from the controversial court ruling.
There is no mechanism for throwing Poland out of the EU (not that anybody would want to go anywhere near that far) and, realistically, Poland has no desire to leave, either. So instead, the question is whether the EU wants to levy a punishment.
That could mean withholding financial payments, for instance, or curtailing the country’s rights as a member state.
It wouldn’t be unprecedented – Poland is already facing daily fines of half a million Euros for continuing to extract lignite from a mine near the border with the Czech Republic in defiance of a court order. There is a suspicion that Mr Morawiecki is rather relishing his battle with Brussels.
Mr Morawiecki at a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels
But he is not alone. Viktor Orban, the populist Prime Minister of Hungary, has repeatedly infuriated the EU with his own policies. Here, he came to town ready to leap to Poland’s defence.
“Poland – the best country in Europe – there’s no need to have any sanctions,” he said.
“We are not building fronts here, we are fighting for issues which are important for our own nations. So we make an alliance and fight together – this is the logic we are doing here. It’s not like the cold war or something like that, creating blocs.”
So, I asked Mr Orban, did he agree – did he think that Hungarian law held primacy over EU law?
He smiled. In fact, he almost laughed. “The fact is very clear that the primacy of EU law is not in the treaty at all. So the EU has primacy where it has competences. The question is about the competences.
“What’s going on here is that – regularly – European Institutions circumvent the rights of the national parliament and government and modify the treaty without having any legitimate authority to do so. So the Polish are right.”
He told me there was no schism between the east and west of Europe, but rather “between common sense and non-common sense”. With a shrug, he declared that the idea of levying sanctions against Poland was “ridiculous”.
So we are heading for a proper row. Is it worth it – the EU going into a political battle with one of its own members? It’s a question I put to the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says Poland has to take ‘the necessary steps’
“I think we have to be tough but I think the question is how do you get there,” he told me. “My argument will be that the independence of the Polish judiciary is the key issue which we have to discuss and we have to settle.
“Poland has to take the necessary steps – that is non-negotiable. This has to do with the foundations of our democracy in this part of the world. So here we cannot negotiate.”
Of course, the EU has plenty of form at creating a crisis, only to then come up with a way to solve it. But this doesn’t feel stage-managed. It feels awkward and painful – the Germans, for instance, don’t seem to want to interfere, but nor do they want to be seen as too passive.
But Poland has popped up repeatedly in recent missives from Brussels. Its border with Belarus has been the site for migrants being pushed towards Europe by President Lukashenko, only to be stopped in their tracks by the Polish police.
Its rules on LGBTQ+ rights have been widely criticised, as have the country’s laws on equality.
And, just like Mr Orban, Poland’s prime minister seems to see political capital in having a row with other EU leaders (especially ones from the west) while retaining the financial advantages of EU membership.
So this won’t end with Poland leaving, or being dismissed from the club. But we may be heading for an almighty row, that leads to… we don’t know where.
A 16-year-old boy has been arrested by anti-terrorism police in France after he allegedly said on social media he wanted to “die a martyr” at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
A spokesperson said on Wednesday the boy was arrested after he “publicly announced on social media that he planned to create an explosive belt to become a martyr”.
The teenager was arrested at his parents’ home on Tuesday after the alleged posts on Telegram the day prior, BFMTV reported.
The French outlet also reported that a search of the teenager’s home found handwritten papers in which he allegedly declared support for Islamic State.
The spokesperson said that an investigation was under way into whether he had genuine intentions to commit a terrorist act.
It comes after French President Emmanuel Macron previously admitted that the Olympics opening ceremony could be scaled down if the security threat is deemed too high.
Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and continuing conflict in the Middle East, France previously raised its security alert to its highest level.
Emmanuel Macron takes part in the Varietes Club charity football match. Pic: Reuters
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The government also asked 45 foreign countries to contribute several thousand extra military, police and civilian personnel to help safeguard the games, Reuters reports.
Earlier this month, Mr Macron said he was confident the opening ceremony, planned to take place on the River Seine, would go ahead but that France had “plan Bs, and even plan Cs” just in case.
This came in the face of concerns over potential security threats to the Games.
The 26 July event is set to be the first Olympic opening ceremony held outside a stadium setting and will see about 10,500 athletes parade through the heart of the French capital on some 160 boats on the Seine along a 3.7-mile route.
But if issues did arise, Mr Macron said that the ceremony could be restricted to the central Paris Trocadero square, facing the Eiffel Tower.
Another option would be to move the event indoors, to the Stade de France.
World
Israel-Hamas war: Hostage’s parents tell him ‘stay strong’ after video shows him alive but missing part of arm
The parents of an Israeli hostage have told him “we love you, stay strong, survive” after he appeared with part of his arm missing in a video released by Hamas.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was kidnapped at the Nova musical festival when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October.
The video shows him with his lower left arm missing; witnesses said it was blown off when he helped throw grenades out of a shelter where people were hiding.
Middle East latest: Hezbollah dismisses ‘worthless’ Israeli claims on commanders killed
He reportedly used his shirt as a tourniquet to stem the bleeding, but was captured.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin (middle) was one of over 200 people kidnapped. Pic: Reuters
Clearly under duress in the undated video, the 23-year-old criticises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, saying they should be “ashamed” for not securing the hostages’ release.
He also claims Israeli bombings have killed “about 70 detainees like me” and that the rest are living in an “underground hell without water, food, or sun”.
Mr Goldberg-Polin, who wears a red shirt and sits against a plain white wall, finishes with an appeal to his parents, telling them “stay strong” and “I love you so much, and miss you so much”.
His parents responded to Wednesday’s video by filming their own emotional response.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Jon Polin says hearing his son for the first time in more than 200 days is “overwhelming”.
“We are relieved to see him alive but we are also concerned about his health and wellbeing as well as that of all the other hostages, and all of those suffering in this region,” he says.
Mr Polin calls for the countries involved in negotiations to “be brave, lean in, seize this moment and get a deal done to reunite all of us with our loved ones and end the suffering in this region”.
His mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, stares resolutely into the camera and tells him: “Hersh, if you can hear his, we heard your voice today for the first time in 201 days… I am telling you – we are telling you – we love you, stay strong, survive.”
Rachel Goldberg holding photos of her son a few weeks after the October attack. Pic: Reuters
Friends and family continue to raise awareness of his captivity. Pic: Reuters
The 23-year-old was born in California but moved to Jerusalem with his family when he was younger.
He was among about 250 Israelis and foreigners kidnapped in the initial Hamas attack, which also killed around 1,200 people.
Some hostages were freed in a deal last year, but more than 100 are still unaccounted for and there is huge pressure in Israel for the government to bring them home.
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Baby saved from womb of dying mother
Israel’s aim to wipe out Hamas has so far killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health authority.
Hundreds of thousands are also said to be on the brink of starvation and have been forced to flee the violence.
Fears are growing that a ground assault on the southern city of Rafah – where more than a million people are sheltering – is imminent after Mr Netanyahu said Israel was “moving ahead” with its plans.
Police in Australia have launched a manhunt for former soap opera star Orpheus Pledger after he failed to appear in court to face charges of assault.
Pledger, 30, was due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday accused of assaulting a woman, Sky News Australia said.
The actor had been granted bail on Tuesday for a court-ordered hospital assessment and had been ordered to return to court the following day, but didn’t show up.
On Wednesday Victoria Police issued a warrant for his arrest and asked the public to help find him.
Pic: Victoria Police
The force said in a statement he was wanted over an “assault-related matter” and hoped “someone may be able to provide information on his current whereabouts”.
Described as “approximately 170cm [5ft, 6in] tall with brown hair and tanned complexion”, police said he was known to frequent the north Melbourne suburb of Northcote and surrounding areas.
Pledger’s manager, Craig McMahon told the Sydney Morning Herald he had not been in contact with his client this week but that he had been shocked by the assault allegations.
Mr McMahon told the paper his client had suffered from mental health issues for a long time.
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Pledger starred in Neighbours, another Australian soap, in 2011 before joining the cast of Home and Away in 2016 where he played Mason Morgan for three years.
Earlier in his career, he appeared in other TV shows, Silversun and CrashBurn.
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