EPP wants to influence election result in Poland says official
The Polish government spokesman has sharply criticised a statement made by the leader of the European People's Party (EPP) Group in the European Parliament and said it looked like an attempt to influence the Polish elections.
In a recent interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Manfred Weber, the EPP leader said that only the EPP could help bring Poland back on the European track by ousting the current Law and Justice (PiS) government.
"The words spoken by Manfred Weber mean, in fact, that the European People's Party is trying to exert influence on the result of an election in Poland by means of external factors or political pressure, or by an attempt to create some impression in the EU institutions," Piotr Mueller said on Monday.
"This must be read verbatim," Mueller stated, adding that "Weber is a representative of the EPP, which includes Poland's main opposition party, the Civic Platform (PO)."
Weber, speaking to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) German daily, said that the EPP had been supporting "a path which excludes radicals," adding that AfD (Germany's far-right party - PAP) and that Marie Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Rally, were its political enemies.
Weber named three conditions for the EPP's potential cooperation with any party, saying that such a group has to be "for Europe, for Ukraine and for the rule of law."
The German politician stated that this was the way to build a barrier for Poland's PiS and added that the EPP was the only force which could replace the PiS government in Poland and lead the country back to Europe.
Apart from Weber, Mueller said, there also were other German politicians who wanted the PiS rule to end in Poland.
"I can understand such expectations as the PiS government policies have been very assertive in the face of Germany's attempts to impose its policy in the EU institutions."
"PiS is a political party which demands war reparations, and this surely is what German politicians do not like," Mueller continued.
"They even say, in a spirit of honesty, that they do not want PiS to continue holding power in Poland," the government spokesman concluded.
