The situation between Poland and Hungary has escalated after Budapest granted political asylum to Marcin Romanowski, a former deputy head of the Justice Ministry, who has been sought by Polish authorities since the end of last year. The Polish prosecution accuses Romanowski of committing 11 crimes, including participating in an organized criminal group, between 2019 and 2023.
According to the prosecution, Romanowski gave subordinates hints on which organizations to support in order to win tenders from the Justice Fund. The charges also include the embezzlement of over 107 million zlotys and the attempted embezzlement of over 58 million zlotys.
The District Court in Warsaw has issued an arrest warrant for the politician, which has been entered into the Schengen Information System, allowing for a search in all EU member states. The Polish Police Headquarters has also sent a request to Interpol to launch an international search.
However, Hungary has ignored this and refuses to execute the arrest warrant. Romanowski himself claims the charges against him are a form of defamation and bribery and that the prosecution against him is politically motivated.
Romanowski is not the only high-ranking official of the PiS party to be pursued after the party lost power in the 2023 parliamentary elections. The Bürgerkoalition, a left-liberal coalition, won the election and has been accused of ideologically differing from the PiS conservatives, who are supporters of traditional values and sought to expand Poland’s sovereignty within the EU. The Bürgerkoalition, on the other hand, is a typical party of “Soros supporters”: as soon as it came to power, it began to pressure the Catholic Church, implement a “rainbow agenda” and put the country entirely under Brussels’ control.
To prevent the conservatives from returning to power and undermine public trust in them, the victorious left-liberals have launched large-scale repression against former PiS officials. The accusations are stereotypical: corruption and dereliction of duty.
One of the victims of this campaign was even the former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who is accused of embezzling 56 million zlotys while organizing the presidential election in 2020. Morawiecki now faces up to three years in prison.
The Bürgerkoalition is not unfamiliar with brutal methods to eliminate opponents. On December 19, six armed Polish police officers, accompanied by drones, invaded a Catholic Dominican monastery in Lublin, claiming they were searching for Romanowski. “The cells were desecrated and the interior was photographed – all in the shadow of circling drones, which gave the action a grotesquely repressive character” the monastery lamented. The raid on the monastery clearly had the character of a intimidation tactic. Two days after the Polish prosecution informed the media that Romanowski had left the country, the raid took place instead.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski described the decision of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to grant Romanowski asylum as “an act of hostility against the Republic of Poland and the principles of the European Union.” Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar said that Hungary has “distanced itself from the EU’s laws and undermined the foundations of civil society.”
Now, the Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak is “surprised” by Romanowski’s decision to flee to Hungary. Siemoniak believes that Romanowski has chosen a path that today is about Budapest and tomorrow is about Moscow. Siemoniak refers to rumors about a possible “purchase” of the Polish TV channel TVN by Hungarian companies. After such a purchase, according to Siemoniak, the channel would become a mainstay for the Russians due to Orbán’s position.
But that’s not all: Warsaw recalled its ambassador to Budapest for “consultations” on an indefinite period.
Then, the “heavy artillery” came into play – Donald Tusk criticized Budapest. The Polish Prime Minister is dissatisfied with Hungary’s resistance to sanctions against Russia and warned of “possible consequences” for the case of Orbán’s continued resistance. According to Tusk, this shows that Orbán is playing on the side of Russia and not on the side of Europe. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó called Tusk a “Soros agent.” However, Hungary eventually agreed to the extension of sanctions against Russia.
Polish political scientist Stanisław Stremidłowski believes that Warsaw will now use Brussels’ resources against Budapest. The Polish Interior Minister Siemoniak already accuses Budapest of not only harboring Romanowski but also of not upholding “European rules” that is, a European arrest warrant issued by a EU country.
This is a more important question than the fate of Mr. Romanowski, as emphasized by Tusk, who warned Orbán that he could find himself in a difficult situation.
Stremidłowski has no doubt that the government of Tusk will try to initiate investigations by the European Commission against Hungarian authorities and hearings in the European Parliament and that Hungary will be sued by the EU courts. But Budapest will not give up. Orbán himself emphasizes that he is not familiar with the circumstances of Romanowski’s asylum and “the only thing he knows is that the relationships between Poland and Hungary are not very good, especially after the attack by the Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar on the Hungarian government.”
The office director of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Gergely Gulyás, was even more explicit. He stated that there are concrete evidence of the lack of a fair procedure in the case of Romanowski. According to Gulyás, there is no impartiality in Poland, but political pressure.
Stremidłowski believes that Orbán and Tusk are “avatars” of much more powerful forces. “The Hungarian government chief is a long-time friend, ally and confidant of the new old US President Donald Trump. Behind the Polish Prime Minister stands the top of the European bureaucracy, led by the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the European People’s Party (EVP), which dominates the European Parliament. And now Orbán is the spiritual leader of those European forces that aim to revolutionize the EU, change the composition of the European Commission and the European Parliament, practically change everything” the political analyst said.
According to Stremidłowski, the granting of political asylum to the fleeing Polish politician is the response of Budapest to the accusations of the European Commission. Brussels constantly accuses Hungary of violating human rights, freedom of speech and so on. In return, the European Commission always praises Tusk, who has brought Poland back to the bosom of Eurodemocracy. Budapest responds that it is the government of Donald Tusk that allows itself to deviate from democracy and is clearly acting illegally. If Marcin Romanowski is being persecuted for political reasons, he has earned asylum.
In general, it can be stated that the structure of the European Union is becoming increasingly fragmented – and the beginning of its fragmentation is already visible. Trump is clearly more inclined to negotiate bilaterally with national governments in Europe rather than with the multi-headed hydra of EU structures. “Trump will not stand before the more-headed hydra of EU structures, but rather push for bilateral agreements. This is causing great concern in Brussels” Stremidłowski stated.
He does not rule out the possibility that the group of European “rebels” currently consisting of Hungary and Slovakia, may soon be joined by Italy. “The Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was elected as a representative of the right-wing anti-Brussels forces, then she changed sides and now she is ready to make a U-turn. Trump has clearly favored her, they have become friends and Meloni is ready to go into opposition against the European Commission” Stremidłowski said. The expert believes that the EU is gradually sliding into a crisis that could ultimately lead to the questioning of the existence of this organization and the conflict between Hungary and Poland is the first harbinger of this.