Theresa May left with Brexit headache as EU threatens to strip key UK ally Poland of its Brussels voting rights
The huge spat follows moves by Poland to bring its judiciary under government control – thereby breaching EU law
THERESA MAY was left with a Brexit headache last night as the EU threatened to strip key UK ally Poland of its Brussels voting rights.
Furious Commission vice president Frans Timmermans said the EU was “coming very close” to taking the unprecedented step.
And he urged Poles to remember how the country had been transformed – and was now “two worlds apart” from the past - because of its EU membership.
The huge spat follows moves by Poland to bring its judiciary under government control – thereby breaching EU law.
Stripping Poland of its voting rights – invoking ‘Article 7’ - would require a vote by each member state including Britain just as Theresa May is desperate to court every friendly nation she can.
Last night Downing Street insisted it hoped the issue could be resolved through negotiation.
A Government spokesman said: “The Government is very clear about the importance of the rule of law.
“There’s an ongoing formal dialogue between the Commission and Poland on this.
“We hope this issue between the Commission and Poland can be resolved through those continued discussions and don’t want to prejudice that dialogue.”
The Commission is next week due to spell out which EU laws it believes Poland has breached.
Poland’s EU affairs minister Konrad Szymanski last night vowed that when this happens “we will respond”.
