‘Shame on you!’ Donald Tusk furious as bitter cracks erupt in EU – anger at Poland

Donald Tusk: EU Council Presidency has been ‘quite a run’

Mr Tusk, who was himself a former Polish prime minister before serving as president of the European Council from 2014 to 2019, was reacting after MEPs voted on a resolution calling for the European Parliament to be kept updated about how money from the fund was spent. The resolution was passed today with 602 votes in favour, 35 against and 56 abstentions.

Afterwards, Siegfried Muresan, vice-president of the Parliament’s European People’s Party (EPP) group, in reference to Law and Justice, or Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) in Polish, tweeted: “The ONLY Delegation in the European Parliament which voted AGAINST the right of information of @Europarl_EN on Recovery Facility is the Delegation of Polish Governing Party PiS.

“What do they have to hide? What is the Polish Government hiding in their EUR 42,1 bn Recovery plan?”

In a second tweet Moldovan MEP Mr Muresan added: “Let me be clear: this is money from the people of #Europe for the people of #Poland.

Donald Tusk is the former President of the European Council (Image: GETTY)

Donald Tusk was unimpressed (Image: Twitter)

“This is money meant to help people affected by the #COVID19 pandemic. #Transparency is needed.

“People need to know how money is being spent. Democratic legitimacy is essential!”

In reference to PiS, Mr Tusk, who is president of the EPP, commented: “Shame on you.”

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Siegfried Muresan said people needed to know how the money was spent (Image: Twitter)

Also commenting on Mr Muresan’s post, Krzysztof Markiewicz said: “PiS, Polish ruling party wants to use EU funds from recovery plan as their election fund.

“They’ve just released internally their new program called “Nowy Lad” (New Order) in which they promise huge social transfers to their electorate.

“Nothing about economy, ecology, green energy.”

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Siegfried Mursesan took aim at the Law and Justice Party in his tweet (Image: Twitter)

Mateusz Morawiecki is Poland’s Prime Minister (Image: GETTY)

Similarly, Magda K Gadek said: “That’s obvious. They want this money to be spent as they wish…, not necessarily fair or on those most in need.

“They always spend money to strengthen their power.

“The UE fund money won’t be any exception.”

Proposed coronavirus grants for EU member states (Image: Express)

Another poster added: “They want to hide the fact that they set up the plan to use the EU money for implementation of authoritarian regime in Poland.

“Europe must act to help Polish people to get free from this unfortunate regime.”

Poland’s current Prime Minister is Mateusz Morawiecki, himself a member of the Law and Justice Party.

A statement issued by the Parliament today said: “To ensure greater transparency and democratic accountability of national recovery and resilience plans, MEPs expect to receive from the Commission the necessary background information as well as a summary of the reforms and investments from the national plans it has received (18 member states submitted their national recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) as of 18 May).

“They also expect this information to be provided to Parliament in an easily-understandable and comparable format, including any existing translations of documents submitted by member states.”

Coronavirus figures worldwide (Image: Express)

In accordance with the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), members of the EU27 are eligible for financing in the form of loans and grants if they focus on six policy areas of European relevance: the green transition including biodiversity, digital transformation, economic cohesion and competitiveness, social and territorial cohesion, institutional crisis-reaction and crisis preparedness, as well as policies for the next generation, children and youth, including education and skills.

Each plan is required to contribute at least 37 percent of its budget to climate and at least 20 percent to digital actions.

Additionally, member states need to explain how the Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs) contribute to gender equality and equal opportunities for all and how the relevant national stakeholders have been involved in preparation of RRPs.

Express.co.uk has contacted the Law and Justice party offering them a chance to comment.