The obstruction by the Polish government of the adoption of European Council conclusions (see EUROPE 11742) led to a tense exchange between Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo and French President François Hollande.
As Szydlo tried at dinner on Thursday 9 March to justify her attitude, speaking about the “principles of solidarity”, a number of her counterparts, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and their Belgian opposite number Charles Michel voiced their criticism. Hollande’s reaction is reported to have been the fiercest. According to several Polish media reports, he retorted: “You may have your principles, we have the structural funds”.
Tacitly confirming that such an exchange had taken place, Szydlo, speaking at a press conference on Friday, described the comments as “lacking elegance” showing, as they did, that “some politicians in Europe think that everything can be bought” and that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe should always be showing their gratitude at being members of the EU. “If I were to take seriously the blackmail of a president who, in opinion polls, has 4% support and who will soon no longer be president, I don’t know what I’d do”, she said.
When asked by the press about the exchange, Chancellor Merkel said on Friday that she did not want to hear “threats about the (European) financial framework”. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys with Aminata Niang)