EP should stop lecturing Poland amid corruption scandal says Duda
The European Parliament (EP) should stop criticising Poland for alleged rule-of-law problems when it has been unable to stop corruption in its own ranks, Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, has said.
Duda made the comment while at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, referring to a corruption scandal in which senior EP officials, including the parliament's vice president, have been accused of accepting bribes in return for lobbying for the interests of Qatar and Morocco.
"First of all, representatives of EU and European institutions should finally stop throwing around the rule-of-law platitudes which, as one can see, do not have much to do with their own actions," the Polish president said.
Poland has been embroiled in a protracted rule-of-law conflict with EU institutions since the ruling conservative camp made a number of changes to the country's judicial system that alarmed the EU. The European Commission has locked Poland out of the much-needed billions of euros in a post-pandemic recovery fund until Warsaw reverses some of the changes.
Duda also observed that the EP scandal had not been revealed by EU institutions, but by Belgian and French prosecutors.
"They should draw conclusions from that," Duda said. "Instead of lecturing others, they should start dealing with the rule of law in their own ranks."
Eva Kaili, a Greek politician and EP vice president, was one of the people arrested in the scandal in December. Her family are also being investigated. A former Italian MEP, Antonio Panzeri, has also been arrested. Two other MEPs are facing the prospect of having their immunity stripped.
