BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – The leader of the centre-right bloc in the European Parliament threatened on Sunday to expel a Polish politician who has been nominated by Warsaw to replace fellow-Pole Donald Tusk as chair of European Union summit meetings.
In a sign of mounting frustration among fellow Europeans with the right-wing government in Warsaw, Manfred Weber said in a statement that the conservative EPP, the biggest group in the EU legislature, would expel Jacek Saryusz-Wolski if he did not drop the bid to replace Tusk, which many diplomats see as farcical.
EU leaders are expected to give Tusk, a former Polish prime minister from the centre-right Civic Platform (PO), a second 30-month term as president of their European Council during a summit in Brussels on Thursday.
Until Saturday, no other candidate had emerged. By tradition any challenger would be expected to be a sitting or recently retired government leader. All members except Poland have backed Tusk.