EU says war rhetoric unacceptable after Polish PM’s comment

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW (AP) — A European Union official has said that there is “no place for rhetoric referring to war” among EU partners. He was reacting to Poland’s prime minister saying that Brussels withholding cash from Poland over the rule of law would be akin to starting World War III. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki gave an interview to the Financial Times in which he accused the EU of making demands of Warsaw with a “gun to our head” and urged Brussels to drop its threats of sanctions against Poland. He said that if officials in Brussels “start the third world war, we are going to defend our rights with any weapons which are at our disposal.” The Polish government spokesman called the comment “hyperbole.”