President urges agreement between EU, Poland

The current controversy between the European Union (EU) and Poland over reforms in the country was high up in the joint press conference of Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and his visiting Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Helsinki on Tuesday.

Niinistö hoped that a speedy solution would be found between Poland and the EU as the EU faces serious external challenges in security, arrival of refugees and the climate change. The EU should be united tackling these problems, he said.

Niinistö noted that when countries join the EU they commit themselves to certain principles. "And if these criteria are adopted once, they should be valid also in the future", Niinistö said.

The Copenhagen criteria include protection of democracy, rule of law and human rights, among others.

Answering questions from the media, Polish President Duda said the legal reform in Poland is an internal judicial matter and demanded that the union should be balanced. "I would like to see all EU countries subjected to such an appraisal process as Poland," he said.

Duda assured Poland is respecting civic freedom, freedom of speech and the media. He said that with the reforms the Polish government is only implementing the pledges it made prior to the 2015 election. "If that is not democracy, what is", he remarked.

The EU has demanded that Poland respect the legality principle of the union and, for example, not shift appointments of judges to be made by politicians. The EU has not yet responded to the latest suggestion by Poland on finding a solution.