WARSAW — Critical comments about Poland by Emmanuel Macron, the favorite to be next president of France, prompted a furious reaction from Warsaw on Friday — further souring already tense relations between the two countries.
Macron on Thursday told French regional newspapers that he would pursue tougher action against Poland and other rule-breaking EU countries such as Hungary if he becomes president, also attacking their economic policies which are seen as a threat to French business.
During the interview, Macron pounded his fist on the table and warned, “In the three months after my election, there are decisions that will be taken on Poland … One can’t have a country which plays its fiscal and social cards in the heart of the European Union and which is in violation of all its principles.”
He added that “sanctions will be taken over the lack of respect for the rights and values of the European Union.”
Poland is under fire from the EU over government attempts to weaken the country’s top constitutional court, something for which Warsaw could theoretically lose its voting rights as an EU member. Hungary was pilloried by Brussels this week over a new higher education law seen as an attack on a university financed by Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros. Both countries have been criticized for refusing to take any asylum seekers since the 2015 migration crisis.
Macron made his comments after a visit to a French Whirlpool dryer factory, which turned into an attack on companies moving production to cheaper parts of the EU.
The reaction from Warsaw was swift and sharp.
“I understand that an election campaign has its own rhetoric, but there have to be some boundaries in voicing your opinion,” Witold Waszczykowski, Poland’s foreign minister, told the wPolityce web portal. “That comment violates European standards and the principles of friendship with Poland.”
Konrad Szymański, the deputy foreign minister in charge of European affairs, called Macron’s critical comments “pure populism which undermines one of the key areas of European integration which is the common market.”
“Until now Emmanuel Macron has condemned Marine Le Pen as an evil person who undermines European unity,” Szymański told Polish radio, adding that Macron’s comment “shows that in this concrete area, it’s difficult to find a difference between Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron.”
France is one of the leading EU countries trying to tighten rules on cheaper workers competing with better-paid rivals in Western Europe. Unions and some Western European countries call it “social dumping,” while Central Europeans feel it’s an anti-competitive effort to undercut one of their main economic advantages.
The issue is keenly felt in the trucking industry, where France is pushing for a crackdown on the ability of shipping companies from doing extra pickups and drop-offs while on foreign trips — called cabotage. Polish and Romanian trucking companies have used cheaper labor costs and lower social security taxes to become a growing threat to truckers in France, Germany and other wealthier parts of the EU.
Friction over labor rights and economic competitiveness are just part of a broader downturn in the relationship between France and Poland. In the past, Poland’s most important EU relationship was with Germany, and the country set great store in the “Weimar triangle,” a regular gathering of Polish, German and French leaders.
But the right-wing Law and Justice party government initially wanted to build its foreign policy around ties with U.K., a policy in tatters after the Brexit vote.
Poland, which isn’t a member of the euro, has also been sidelined as a member of the club of the largest EU countries. A March mini-summit held under French guidance in Versailles drew Germany, Italy and Spain to discuss the shape of the EU after Brexit. Poland wasn’t invited.
France was incensed when Poland last year unexpectedly dropped a €3.2 billion contract to equip its military with multipurpose helicopters from Airbus. François Hollande, the French president, scrapped a trip to Warsaw, and the issue has since turned into a political scandal in Poland, as the Polish Defense Ministry hasn’t clearly explained why the contract was rejected.
Hollande also warned Poland during Warsaw’s failed effort in March to block Donald Tusk, the former Polish prime minister, from a second term as European Council president, pointing out that it was one of the EU’s largest recipients of structural funds.
“Am I supposed to take seriously the blackmail of a president who has a 4 percent approval rating and who soon won’t be president?” shot back a furious Beata Szydło, Poland’s prime minister.