Warning from Brussels: Unfreezing EU funds was a mistake. We should have waited for reform

Michał Gostkiewicz

The European Commission's decision to defrost EU measures for Poland just after Donald Tusk took over was premature – believes German Euro MP Moritz Körner from the liberal faction of Renew Europe. In correspondence with Deutsche Welle The policy states that the Commission made a mistake by paying the funds before real reforms were introduced to reconstruct the regulation of law.

Photo screenshot / youtube

Körner's informing took on a fresh meaning after Karol Nawrocki was elected president of Poland. In his entry on the X platform, the Euro MPs did not hide their concern that if the fresh president blocks the planned reforms, the European Union would gotta frost the funds again. “The withdrawal period for Poland is over,” he emphasises. – Now it is time for concrete legislative action.

Polish right responds: war, reparations and national pride

Körner's comments met with a sharp reaction from Polish politicians, especially from the right side of the political scene. In consequence there began to be accusations of German hypocrisy and a deficiency of accounting for crimes from planet War II. Many politicians reminded that Germany had never paid Poland war reparations, and thus have no moral right to instruct Warsaw on matters of the regulation of law.

Körner himself does not stay in debt. “The proposition that as a German, I should not talk of the regulation of law until I pay my reparations is simply primitive,” he writes in consequence to questions from DW. “I could besides be banned from speaking about competitiveness or bureaucracy in the Union.

A symbolic study and an effort to drag the dispute into the historical field

In the atmosphere of expanding tensions there was a symbolic gesture. Arkadiusz Mularczyk, MEP from the faction of European Conservatives and Reformists, personally handed Körner a study estimating Polish war losses to over PLN 6 trillion. The paper was based on his initiative and was to remind of the unaccounted for past of the German occupation.

Körner, born in 1990, responded with an appeal “to Polish friends”, sustaining his position and expressing surprise with Mularczyk's gesture. – This is not a substance of the past, planet War II or national pride. This is about the future of Europe – she notes. – Whether we want a community based on trust and principles, or a continent where agreements mean nothing.

It adds that the European Union is not just a political task but a household in which partners are equal and commit each other. “Poland and Germany are equal members of this community,” emphasises Körner.

Reparations: a subject that inactive divides Warsaw and Berlin

Although German governments have for decades recognised moral work for crimes committed in Poland, the issue of reparation, as Berlin points out, is legally closed. Germany declares its willingness to engage more in joint conciliation projects, but these gestures – as late unveiled temporary monument to Polish victims of the war in Berlin – inactive make mixed reactions on the Polish side.

The differences of opinion were felt even during the fresh gathering of Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Warsaw. Although Merz spoke openly about “intended suffering” of Poles and “great guilt” Germany reiterated Berlin's authoritative position on reparations: the case is legally closed.

Instead, the German Chancellor stressed the future and cooperation in the field of safety – he recalled, among others, the joint patrols of Polish and German pilots and Patriot rocket defence systems deployed in Rzeszów.

W However, Warsaw inactive counts for a motion that – without undermining the legal order – would let to support surviving victims of war. According to estimates, it's about 6,000 people today.

Körner: if there are no reforms, Parliament will again sue the Commission

Moritz Körner signals that the case may proceed in the EU. As it recalls, the European Parliament has already sued the European Commission erstwhile – on Hungary – for unblocking the measures prematurely despite the deficiency of real effects of reforms.

– If Poland fails to meet the conditions and the Commission refuses to re-freeze the funds, Parliament will work. Not to punish Poland, but to defend the trust that the Union brings together, he says.

As a associate of the LIBE parliamentary committee dealing with the regulation of law, Körner points out that the payment of funds should only be possible where there is simply a warrant that they will be decently used. "Out of respect for European taxpayers, I will not agree to unlock funds if the conditions are not met," he concludes.

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