Walesa
© Getty Images/NurPhotoLech Walesa
Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa has suggested that the European Union should dissolve itself to create a new bloc without Poland and Hungary.

In an interview with the Polish portal Interia about the European Commission finally approving the National Reconstruction Plan for his country, Walesa, who was president between 1990 and 1995, said that sending billions of euros in investments to Warsaw would be a "failure" for the EU. In his opinion, these funds will be stolen "anyway" and thus "without the rule of law, it makes no sense to waste billions of euros."
"The Union, instead of compromising with Poland, should dissolve itself and, moments later, create a new bloc based on Germany and France, but without Poland and Hungary."
If Poland still wanted to join the new union, Walesa argued, they would have to "accept obligations."

The founder and longtime leader of the Solidarity Trade Union, known for his highly critical stance towards the current Polish leadership, said that his country is "losing billions due to a few frivolous politicians."

Walesa claimed that he has been busy calling on the other countries not to behave like the Poles, as, in his opinion, his compatriots "disregarded democracy, let the populists to power" and now do not know "how to get out of it." The former president is in favor of stripping the "frivolous politicians" of all their capital and property so they could pay off their "debts" to the nation.

The approval of the recovery plan, which aims to help Poland restore its pandemic-hit economy, paves the way to unblock €23.9 billion in subsidies and €11.5 billion in loans. According to media reports, the European Commission's decision to approve the plan despite tensions between the EU and Poland was prompted by Warsaw's readiness to support sanctions against Russia, as well as by the assistance that Poland provided to millions of Ukrainian refugees.

However, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made it clear that Poland will receive funding only when it launches a reform of its judicial system. Final approval of the funding for Poland rests with the EU's other 26 member states.