{"id":87409,"date":"2023-11-05T11:19:04","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T11:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?p=87409"},"modified":"2023-11-05T11:19:04","modified_gmt":"2023-11-05T11:19:04","slug":"eu-accused-of-picking-favourites-by-inviting-donald-tusk-to-brussels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/eu-accused-of-picking-favourites-by-inviting-donald-tusk-to-brussels\/","title":{"rendered":"EU accused of picking favourites by inviting Donald Tusk to Brussels"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s European Commission is \u201cpicking favourites\u201d by controversially inviting former European Council President, Poland\u2019s Donald Tusk, to Berlaymont even though there is no guarantee he will be his country\u2019s next Prime Minister, a Brussels-based expert has claimed.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib, has warned Ms von der Leyen she and her colleagues in the Commission are \u201cin for a shock\u201d – suggesting there was no guarantee of him falling into line once he \u201cgets what he wants\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Tusk is widely seen as the front runner to be Poland\u2019s next leader at the head of a coalition of moderate parties following last month\u2019s general election – although Andrzej Duda, the country\u2019s President, is giving his own Law and Justice Party a chance to form a government.<\/p>\n

During his trip to the Belgian capital last week, during which he met Ms von der Leyen, Mr Tusk stressed he was not there in an official capacity.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the move still raised eyebrows, with an analysis published in the Brussels Times arguing: \u201cThe optics of this are clear: the European Commission wants Tusk to be prime minister and unlocking Poland\u2019s billions will be a smoother process if he is in charge rather than Mateusz Morawiecki, the incumbent PM.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pieter Cleppe, Editor-in-chief of BrusselsReport.eu, agreed, telling Express.co.uk: “The EU Commission should not be political.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is supposed to be a neutral arbiter, which cannot be reconciled with picking favourites in national elections, which the Commission is now openly and shamelessly doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not take a genius to predict that this will backfire on Brussels, but so far, at least Ursula von der Leyen genuinely does not seem to understand that this undermines the EC’s credibility.”<\/p>\n

Mr Habib, now the deputy leader of Reform UK, told Express.co.uk: \u201cThe EU couches its narratives in the need to uphold democracy and the rules-based system.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut it only ever observes these needs if it suits it to do so. The second the rules do not wholly deliver what it seeks, it either ignores or changes them.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake the EU\u2019s attitude to Poland. For years it has admonished the Polish government for meddling in the appointment of its judiciary.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet all the judges appointed to the Court of Justice of the EU are political appointments. The irony\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in its endeavours to bully Poland it withheld \u20ac32 billion in Covid area funding otherwise due to that country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had it it respected rules and democracy, Mr Habib said the bloc would have \u201creleased to Poland that which is rightfully theirs\u201d.<\/p>\n