Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, has said those fleeing justice can now choose between Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán for protection.
Tusk was talking a day after Hungary decided to grant political asylum to Marcin Romanowski, a wanted former Polish deputy justice minister.
Romanowski, who had a ministerial post in the previous government, is subject to a European Arrest Warrant as part of an investigation into alleged abuse of public funds. The investigation forms part of a wider probe into accusations of criminality during the eight-year rule of Law and Justice (PiS), a right-wing party closely allied with Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister.
On Thursday, authorities in Budapest approved a claim by Romanowski for political asylum, prompting Poland’s foreign ministry to summon the Hungarian ambassador over what it called a “hostile act.”
Commenting on the matter, Tusk said on Friday: “I didn’t expect that those who flee from justice, corrupt officials, will be able to choose between Lukashenko and Orbán in seeking protection from the judicial system.”
The comment was an apparent reference to Tomasz Szmydt, a former Polish judge accused of espionage who was granted asylum by Minsk in November.
"No one doubts in this case that those who stole, those who are corrupt, seek refuge in countries and under the wings of politicians who are very similar to themselves," Tusk was quoted by Reuters as saying.
A diplomatic spat
In addition to summoning the Hungarian ambassador, Poland’s foreign ministry said it would ask the European Commission to take action against Budapest if it failed to meet its EU obligations.
But the head of Orbán’s office, Gergely Gulyás, said Hungary’s actions were in line with its own laws and those of the bloc. He also took aim at Warsaw.
“The actions of Tusk's government have created a situation where the Polish government disregards its constitutional court's rulings... and uses criminal law as a tool against political opponents," Reuters reported him as saying.
Orbán said he had no knowledge of the asylum decision’s details.
“It is not the prime minister's decision,” Poland’s state news agency, PAP, quoted him as saying. “It is a legal process that is still underway."
The Hungarian prime minister went on to admit that relations between Warsaw and Budapest were “poor,” making reference to a recent interview for Politico by the Polish justice minister, Adam Bodnar, in which he said Hungary would struggle to restore its image in Brussels.
Romanowski is wanted by prosecutors on 11 criminal counts, though National Prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk told a Friday press conference a further seven serious offenses would be added to the list.
PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński said the whole process against Romanowski was illegal and that he would not get a free trial in Poland.
