Poland won't be blackmailed: PM

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło said French President Francois Hollande “blackmailed” Poland during the meeting when he allegedly said: “You have your rules, we have structural funds”.

“Poland is not worried about any blackmail,” Szydło said, adding that Hollande was ”a president who has four percent support in polls and soon will not be the president”.

She also said that politicians blackmailing countries would be an “awful prospect” for the bloc.

During the informal talks, which followed a two-day EU summit in Brussels, the leaders of 27 of the bloc's member states – all but the UK – discussed a declaration that would outline Europe's future after Britain leaves the bloc.

The declaration is to be signed at a summit to mark the 60th anniversary of the so-called Rome Treaties later this month.

According to Szydło, the declaration ought to highlight the bloc's unity and rule out a multi-speed Europe.

Szydło added that the declaration should not be a commemorative document but a roadmap the EU's future, including reform.

She said that varying speeds, rules and directions of development of EU countries will lead to a multi-speed Europe and the bloc's break-down.

However, European Council President Donald Tusk said that no one in the EU intended to isolate the Polish government, while European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said there would not be a iron-curtain between the EU's east and west.

Refering to the Rome Declaration, Szydło said that “fundamental issues” for Poland included the protection and growth of the single market, balance between the Euro-zone countries and other EU members, reform and security.

An EU summit in the Italian capital will mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome, which set up the European Economic Community (EEC) –a forerunner of the European Union – and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC). They were signed on 25 March 1957. (vb)

Source: PAP, IAR