Poland hopes for agreement on anti-inflation shield says dep minister

Poland is discussing its so-called anti-inflation shield with Brussels and hopes that a reasonable agreement will be reached, the deputy minister of foreign affairs said on Thursday.

On Monday, the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (DGP) daily wrote that the government was considering withdrawing from its so-called anti-inflation shield not only because it was trying to save money, but also because it feared intervention from the European Commission (EC).

The findings of the newspaper indicated that Warsaw had received written notice in which the EC expressed its doubts concerning the measures contained in the shield regarding reduced VAT rates on gas, motor fuels and fertilizers. According to the daily, EU directives do not allow for such low VAT rates.

On Thursday, Pawel Jablonski told Radio Zet: "Of course, we are not defenseless in this matter and we hope that some type of reasonable agreement will be reached."

He also pointed out that "in these matters, pressure is being applied on the European Commission to make it difficult for Poland to function."

When asked who was pressuring the EC, Jablonski said "first of all, politicians who want to change the government in Poland" and "Polish politicians from the opposition as well as some politicians in other European capitals," he said.

Earlier, on Monday, Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had said that the anti-inflation shield would take on a new form as Poland "has received warnings from the European Commission that penalties will be imposed if we do not withdraw from the protective measures taken so far, the reduction of VAT rates."