Poland to veto EU sanctions on Hungary

The European Parliament's vote, earlier the same day, to trigger a sanctions procedure against Hungary over its violations of EU values and rule of law, was "disturbing" the Polish ministry said.

"Every EU member state has the sovereign right to implement internal reforms that it considers to be right," it added.

The statement comes after the European Commission last year launched the same punitive procedure against Poland for the same reasons.

It means Budapest and Warsaw will both face EU scrutiny on a host of issues ranging from judicial reforms, to free press, civil society, and minority rights.

But Poland's intervention also means the process is unlikely to end in sanctions - suspension of voting rights in the EU Council - in either case, with Hungary having promised to veto such a decision on Poland and, now, vice versa.

Duda speech

The Polish ministry's remarks came one day after Polish president Andrzej Duda, an ally of the ruling Law and Justice party, attacked the EU in a speech in Lezajsk, a town in the south east.

The EU was an "imaginary community from which we don't gain much", he said.

"They [the EU] should leave us in peace, and allow us to fix Poland, because that's the most important thing," he said, referring to the EU sanctions procedure.

"Of course we have the right to have expectations towards Europe - especially towards the Europe that left us to be the prey of the Russians in 1945 - but above all we have the right to rule ourselves here on our own and decide what form Poland should have," he added.

Duda's remarks attracted opprobrium from opposition politicians.

They were "irresponsible" and intended to "harm European unity", Aleksander Kwasniewski, Poland's former president said in an open letter on Wednesday.

"If they came from momentary emotions, I would urge greater thoughtfulness. If they came out of some deeper strategy, I must warn that this goes against the Polish raison d'état," he said.

"The president's words ... were shocking and harmful," Grzegorz Schetyna, Poland's former foreign minster said.

"They isolate Poland and, above all, they demoralise our young generation, which knows that our membership in Europe is an epochal achievement," he said.

Meanwhile, if sanctions procedures risk hardening anti-EU forces in central Europe, they also risk pushing Hungary into an alliance with Russia.

Orban meets Putin

Hungary's foreign affairs spokesman, Peter Szijjarto, said Orban would meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss energy supplies and infrastructure investments.

"[Our] long-term gas supply deal with expire at the end of 2020 or already at the end of 2019 - we will see the Russian position on that," Szijjarto said.

"We have to find a way in order to minimise our losses ... which were caused by the regime of sanctions in the last years," he added, referring to EU sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.