Police officer hit by driver of fleeing vehicle in Toronto
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
Polish arguments that fundamental judicial changes the country has made would not undermine the European Union on Friday failed to convince key bloc leaders who said that the withholding of billions in EU recovery funds would likely continue unless Warsaw falls back into line.
At the end of a two-day EU summit dominated by the standoff over core values like judicial independence and the primacy of EU law in member states, a large majority of leaders insisted that preparations for sanctions against Poland needed to continue apace.
"No European country can call itself European if it's judges are not independent," said French President Emmanuel Macron.
And when Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki sowed the seeds of doubt that EU law should take a backseat to national rules, many leaders insisted that the EU's executive arm had not choice but to move against Poland over the rule of law dispute.
"There are no alternatives. The laws are clear," Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said. "The treaty ... the basis of the union, was put into question. It's clear the Commission cannot not go forward."
EU nations have warned for years over what they see as a backsliding of democratic principles in Poland when it comes to an independent judiciary and free media. They said Morawiecki's nationalist government stacked the constitutional court with handpicked judges and then had the same court challenge the supremacy of EU law.
To counter this, Morawiecki claims the EU institutions are so power-hungry that they treat the 27 member nations as mere vassals, grabbing power without a legal base and imposing its values against the wishes of sovereign peoples.
And by threatening sanctions, he said the EU was using plain "blackmail."
Even if many potential sanctions would be months - if not years - away, the EU is holding back 36 billion euros in resilience funds for Poland aimed at helping the nation bounce back from the pandemic. It hasn't released the funds because Poland needs to meet certain conditions that many leaders say necessitate legal changes Morawiecki refuses to make.
"I cannot see a situation if this is still lingering, that the Commission will decide on the resilience plan for Poland," said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. "The general issues around the rule of law have to be addressed. This was very clear," he said, adding an large majority of leaders felt that way.
The EU's executive arm can start infringement procedures, or activate a mechanism allowing the suspension of other EU payments to a member country breaching the principles of the rule of law.
Such a confrontation though could throw the bloc into another existential crisis which German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to avoid.
Merkel said that in their meetings with Morawiecki, she and Macron "expressed our great concern that we must get out of this escalating spiral, because the rule of law -- particularly in this context of judicial independence -- is of course a key pillar of European values."
Poland has been perceived lately as trying to undermine the EU with anti-Brussels rhetoric and actions, much like Prime Minister Viktor Orban has done in recent years. It fears that the EU is fraying at the edges and that another exit, like the one from the United Kingdom, might loom.
At a news briefing in Brussels after the summit, Morawiecki argued that Poland has no problem with the rule of law and that those who think it does don't understand the issues Poland has faced with a judiciary that needed radical reforms, and still needs more reforms. He also argued that there need to be limits to EU power, saying it's not a "super state."
"Nobody agreed to this in Europe," he said.
Morawiecki argued that there are areas that the EU does not have responsibility over, citing sports, health, public safety and border security as examples.
Even though Morawiecki openly professed his attachment to the union and its guiding principles before meeting the leaders in the two-day summit, he did not do his EU credentials a favor by meeting with France's far right politicians Marine Le Pen on the sidelines.
Le Pen was long arguing for France to leave the bloc but reverted recently to argue that the EU should be changed from within to give sovereign nations more powers at the expense of Brussels.
Le Pen posted two photos from their meeting on Twitter, saying she and Morawiecki agree on the need to defend the sovereignty of nation states and discussed "the unacceptable blackmail exercised by the European Commission."
Morawiecki said he met Le Pen at her request and that it was normal for him to meet with all the major French presidential candidates.
The meeting shocked many in Poland since the ruling party has so far resisted cooperation with the French far right due to its Kremlin ties. Opposition leader Donald Tusk, a former EU leader, commented on Twitter that as EU leaders "try to solve dilemma of how to keep Poland in EU, defend rule of law & unblock funds, PM Morawiecki meets with pro-Putin & Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen."
--------
Geir Moulson in Berlin, Mike Corder in The Hague, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Angela Charlton in Paris and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed.
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
Quebec Premier François Legault reiterated that the pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill University must be dismantled while police remain 'on the lookout for new developments.'
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
The United Nations food agency warned Sudan's warring parties Friday that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they don't allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region.
Electric scooters (e-scooters) have been gaining popularity in the capital and this season comes with some changes and updates.
Ontario Provincial Police say two people were killed after a car and a transport truck collided in the westbound lanes of Highway 417 near Limoges, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Crucial witnesses took the stand in the second week of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, including a California lawyer who negotiated deals at the center of the case and a longtime adviser to the former president.
Golf is a sign of spring and summer and a major driver for seasonal tourism, experts say.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.