Macron meets new Polish prime minister amid tensions with EU
French President Emmanuel Macron met new Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Brussels on Friday. The pair discussed Poland's judicial reform and migrant quotas, two subjects on which the European Union and Warsaw have clashed.
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There was a "relaxed atmosphere" at the meeting, on the second day of a European summit in the Belgian capital, a French presidential statement said, adding that this was a "good basis for a working relationship".
Macron had a fraught relationship with Morawiecki's predecessor, Beata Szydlo, although they improved after she visited the French presidential palace in November.
Morawiecki, who on Thursday said he expected European sanctions to be imposed on his country next week because of the controversial judicial reform.
During the summer Macron angered Warsaw by saying that it was going against European interests in a number of fields and was undermining the rule of law.
He also called for a solution on the migrant question before next summer.
The European Commission has taken Poland, along with the Czech republic and Hungary, to the European Court of Justice for refusing to accept their quotas of refugees over the last two years.
Like Macron, Morawiecki, 49, is a former banker.
He is hoping to improve his country's international image, although he has pledged not to break with his predecessor's policies.
The president of Poland's electoral commission, Wojciech Hermelinski, slammed the electoral reform law approved the day before by the lower house of the Polish parliament, claiming it gives too much power to the interior minister and was a threat to the whole electoral process.
Macron plans to visit Warsaw next year, the centenary of Polish independence.
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