(Bloomberg) -- Lithuania warned that any European Union financial penalties over Poland’s failure to adhere to rule-of-law standards would risk stoking public resentment toward Brussels.
“It would be simple to punish Poland over its decision,” Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told Ziniu Radijas Thursday. “But there’s a price for such punishment: further strengthening of anti-European sentiment, perhaps alienation of some sort, maybe not Brexit, but some legal alienation from the EU.”
The EU may trigger its so-called conditionality mechanism to freeze billions of euros in financing for Poland, which it accuses of democratic backsliding. While Landsbergis deems defending EU s as key to the bloc’s “survival,” he said Lithuania wants to preserve its strategic partnership with Poland, with which it shares a border.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Tuesday that linking rule-of-law principles to financial penalties is “morally wrong.” Warning that the escalating dispute could be “tragic for Poland and tragic for the EU,” he called for mediation to find a compromise.
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