“I don’t really think that anybody has a strategy, or wants to get Poland out,” a European diplomat said. “Everybody is still expecting this government to come back to its senses.”
“Hoping” might be a more appropriate term, given the awkward diplomatic back-and-forth between Brussels and Warsaw in recent days. The dispute highlights the difficulty of maintaining EU solidarity without fueling rising populism and unease across the bloc over policies from Brussels ranging from migration to economic governance. [...]
Though sanctions in the form of cuts to Polish subsidies as part of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy or any structural funds are unlikely to take place, the Commission could carry out “a very deep scrutiny of the way the funds are asked and used,” a European diplomat said.
“It would be very easy for the Commission to act this way, it would not require any formal decision and at that point for Warsaw it would be very hard to continue being a successful recipient of these funds,” the diplomat said. “That’s the only fear of the [Polish government], an economic retaliation which, according to them, will take form in this way.”
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