Ruling party MP defends "harsh words" about Brussels
A government MP has defended calling the EU an occupying power, saying that Poles are not “subhuman” and will not agree to being treated worse than other EU nations.
Marek Suski, a member of Law and Justice, the dominant party in Poland’s United Right ruling coalition, was reacting to criticism of comments he made during a ceremony marking the anniversary of Home Army soldiers being freed from a communist prison in Radom. He said at the time: "We will fight against the Brussels occupier."
His apparent comparison of the EU to the Nazi occupation of Poland prompted Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister to intervene. Speaking on Friday he said: "Out of respect for the victims of terrible German crimes I don't want to compare the current day to those times, it is something else entirely."
But in an interview on Tuesday morning for the radio station RMF FM, Suski he had used the "harsh words" to communicate to Brussels that Poland did not agree to the way it is treated, that Poles are not "subhuman" and will not consent to being treated worse than other EU nations.
Asked whether the EU was the same as Poland's wartime occupation by Nazi Germany, Suski said: "I don't say it is the same, but certain elements have appeared like before the Second World War.
"It is also said that we must give up an extra-territorial corridor, and now they're demanding the supremacy of EU law over Polish law, and if not we'll be punished," Suski continued. "If Poland does not get down on its knees… we will be punished."
He described accepting the supremacy of EU law as giving up sovereignty and said it must be resisted, and claimed that that Poland was being treated differently to other member states.
He went on to say he supported Poland's EU membership, but on the principle of partnership. "Not on the principle of a worse nation, that is somehow worse, that can be kicked, frightened, starved and so on," Suski said.
