Ties between Warsaw and Budapest additional soured final month after fugitive Polish lawmaker Marcin Romanowski was granted asylum in Hungary.
Poland didn’t invite the Hungarian ambassador to the EU presidency inauguration gala in Warsaw, scheduled for Friday, following a diplomatic row over political asylum, a Polish minister mentioned.
Budapest final month granted political asylum to former Polish deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski, angering Warsaw, which referred to as it a “hostile act”.
Romanowski, a lawmaker from the nationalist opposition Law and Justice (PiS) celebration, faces 11 costs by Polish prosecutors for misuse of public funds and a Warsaw court docket final month issued a European arrest warrant in opposition to him. Last week Poland mentioned it could take Hungary to the European Court of Justice if it did not adjust to the mandate.
The incident is the newest blow to the connection between the 2 EU members, which was beforehand sturdy because of shared views on migration and the blockade, however has more and more soured as a result of large-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022.
Poland will take over the rotating presidency of the EU Council from Hungary and kick off on Friday with an occasion on the Warsaw Grand Theatre.
“When we invited friends to our gala nearly a month in the past, we invited the whole diplomatic corps,” Polish Deputy Minister for European Affairs Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka mentioned on Friday.
“But after the state of affairs with Minister Romanowski, Minister (Radosław) Sikorski determined that the Hungarian ambassador is not going to be a welcome visitor within the theater at the moment,” Sobkowiak-Czarnecka mentioned in an interview with Polish public information channel TVP Info .
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was additionally not welcome on the ceremony, Sobkowiak-Czarnecka mentioned.
Since Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his centrist coalition took energy in December 2023, ties with Hungary have collapsed.
Warsaw – Kiev’s staunch ally – has been publicly crucial of Budapest over its relations with Moscow, whereas Orbán has accused Poland of hypocrisy over its stance on the conflict with Russia and mentioned Tusk’s authorities views Hungarians as enemies.
Another level of rivalry has been Poland’s pro-EU stance below Tusk, which follows PiS’s Euroscepticism, within the face of rising anti-EU rhetoric and threats from Orbán.
During Hungary’s presidency of the EU, Orbán repeatedly denounced the bloc’s sanctions in opposition to Russia and made a much-criticized go to to Moscow, the place he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in what he referred to as a “peacekeeping mission.” Orbán was additionally criticized by the European Parliament for assembly Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing shortly afterwards.
Poland’s six-month management within the EU Council – its second time period – will give attention to strengthening safety and protection below the slogan “Security, Europe!”, Warsaw mentioned.
