Ruling party resolution denies Polexit plans

Poland's ruling conservative ruling party Law and Justice in a Wednesday resolution rejected the possibility of Poland leaving the European Union after hints by prominent party members prompted the opposition to accuse PiS of drafting Polexit plans.

Ryszard Terlecki, a senior PiS member, said last week that "we should think about how we can best cooperate so that we can all be in the (European) Union, but also so that this (European) Union is acceptable for us."

He added that "if it (the EU - PAP) goes the way it seems to be going, we have to look for drastic solutions."

Another prominent PiS member, Marek Suski, recently said that Poland will "fight the occupiers from Brussels." Harsh words could also be heard from members of PiS's smaller ally in the government, Solidary Poland.

"Due to the recent appearance of false information concerning PiS's stance on Poland's membership of the EU, we decided to comment on this in a resolution of the Political Committee," Anita Czerwińska, PiS spokeswoman told reporters after the committee met on Wednesday.

According to Czerwińska, the resolution rules out the possibility of a Polexit.

The spokeswoman said opposition parties "attribute to PiS something we have never planned at all, never discussed."

"We clearly tie Poland's future to EU membership, but this does not mean that we should agree to the progressing, non-contractual process of limiting member states' sovereignty," Czerwińska went on to say.

"We want Poland to be a European Union member and remain a sovereign state," she added.

According to Czerwińska, the resolution also states that the EU needs deep changes.

"Together with other centre-right parties we will develop an alternative policy and a reform plan for the European Union that will draw upon its roots, the philosophy of its founding fathers," Czerwińska said.

In a Tuesday-published poll conducted by researcher United Surveys for the daily newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and radio broadcaster RMF FM, 88 percent of those polled expressed a desire to remain in the bloc with only 7 percent wanting to leave.

The PiS government has been at odds with Brussels over the country's justice reforms that the European Commission says infringe upon European values. In July, the Court of Justice of the European Union ordered Poland to immediately suspend its new disciplinary panel for judges. Warsaw has yet to implement the verdict, but faces financial penalties if it fails to do so.