Brussels is unlikely to back down on its demand that Poland respect the rule of law to receive post-pandemic recovery funds; despite threats from Warsaw that it could block decision-making within the European Union.
Poland would be eligible for 24 billion euros in grants and 11.5 billion in very cheap loans from the fund; designed to help member states become greener and more digitalised as their economies recover.
But the money froze because Poland’s ruling PiS party does not want to roll back changes to the judiciary introduce over the last seven years, even though the EU’s top court has them incompatible with EU treaties.
With elections looming next year, the head of the nationalist and eurosceptic PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski; and other senior party officials have escalated their anti-EU rhetoric, insisting that Poland will make no concessions.