Polish powerbroker Kaczynski warns two-speed union leads to 'breakdown'
Kaczynski made the comment a day after talks with Merkel in Warsaw focused on the EU's future post-Brexit.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski leader of ruling PiS told Polish media that a so-called two-speed Europe would lead to the "breakdown, and in fact the liquidation, of the European Union
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Jaroslaw Kaczynski told Polish media that a so-called two-speed Europe would lead to the "breakdown, and in fact the liquidation, of the European Union in its current sense."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week that European leaders may commit to a union of "different speeds" when they make a major declaration on its future at a summit in Rome next month.
The EU has long been riven by debate about whether all countries must commit to full integration including the single currency, or whether some can go at different paces.
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Kaczynski, who is regarded as Poland's real powerbroker despite holding no formal governmental post, made the comment a day after talks with Merkel in Warsaw focused on the EU's future post-Brexit.
"I don't think the chancellor is a supporter of this type of concept (two-speed Europe), because if it were to be implemented, then Angela Merkel's long political career, her global political career, would end very badly, because the breakdown of the EU is certainly an event nobody could be happy about," Kaczynski said Wednesday.
He has long opposed Germany's federalist model of closer European political integration, arguing instead for reforms that would decentralise the bloc by granting greater powers to member states.
The future EU "must be one and it must also be different, it must be better," Kaczynski said.
The EU's 27 leaders minus Britain are due to make a declaration at the summit in Rome in March marking the 60th anniversary of the EU, in which they will set out a post-Brexit roadmap.
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Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, a group of the EU's founding members, issued a statement last month backing a two-speed EU.
Germany and Poland on Tuesday vowed to cooperate in the interest of European unity, as the EU faces a string of challenges this year including Brexit and several high-stakes national elections where populist parties with anti-EU agendas could make inroads.
Poles are overwhelmingly pro-EU, with surveys consistently showing that around 80 percent favour membership, seen by the public as a source of economic growth thanks to generous subsidies from Brussels.
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