Polexit looms as Poland ready to quit bloc – will NOT stay at 'any price'

POLAND should not stay in the European Union at "any price", the country's justice minister has warned.

In the midst of a bitter legal stand-off between Brussels and Warsaw, Zbigniew Ziobro accused the bloc of attempted “blackmail”. His rant comes after the European Commission gave Poland until August 16 to comply with a ruling by the European Court of Justice against the country’s judicial reforms. Brussels has threatened to slap Warsaw with hefty fines unless it complies with the Luxembourg-based court’s ruling.

Mr Ziobro has declared that Poland will not back down in the row, accusing the ECJ of having a “colonial mentality”.

He said making concessions to Brussels in the row over its judicial system will see Warsaw forced to make concessions in other areas in the future.

Mr Ziobro fumed: “I am completely against giving in to the illegal blackmail by the EU, which is being carried out via the ECJ.

“If we agree today to the illegal diktats of the ECJ in matters in which it does not have the right to interfere, then tomorrow the ECJ will issue a verdict obliging Poland, for example, to introduce gay marriage and the adoption of children by such couples.”