Poles: Being in EU is like occupation

POLAND’S president has launched an astonishing attack on Brussels by likening its membership of the EU to an occupation.

Andrzej Duda suggested that the country was now run by ‘faraway capitals’ which are effectively ‘taking the money we earn’.

The outburst will fuel concerns about the deteriorating relations between Brussels and Warsaw over migration and Poland’s plans to overhaul its judiciary.

The Polish head of state compared its place in the bloc, which it joined in 2004, to decades under foreign control during the 18th and 19th centuries.

He said: ‘We don’t decide for ourselves any more – now somewhere far away, in faraway capitals, they make decisions for us.

‘They take the money we earn through our work, and in reality we work on behalf of others.’

Speaking to mark the 100th anniversary of Poland’s independence, he said it was ‘worth defending independence and sovereignty at any price’.

It comes just days after the EU handed the country a deadline to address controversial reforms to its court system that critics say threaten judicial independence.

Brussels has threatened to launch a ‘ nuclear option’ to suspend Poland’s EU voting rights if it fails to address concerns that ministers act as puppet masters over judges.

Poland has claimed the warning was ‘political’ and that reforms to its judiciary were necessary.

Theresa May used a trip to Warsaw in December to extend concerns about abuse of the rule of law, while also trying to court the country’s leadership.