Poland assumed the six-month rotating EU presidency on January 1, will host a grand concert at Warsaw’s National Opera to mark the occasion on Friday night.  

The move to snub the ambassador comes after Hungary offered asylum to Marcin Romanowski, a Polish former deputy justice minister wanted under a European Arrest Warrant.  

Romanowski, who served under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government, is accused of the misappropriation of over 107 million złoty (about € 25 million) from a fund reserved for victims of crime.  

Speaking to TVP Info, Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka, Poland’s deputy minister for European Affairs, said that Sikorski had “sent a diplomatic note to the Hungarian ambassador” telling him that “he was not welcome in the theater.”  

“Hungary has placed itself on the margins of the European Union,” Sobkowiak-Czarnecka continued, adding that it was “currently the only country in the European Union facing proceedings under the rule of law mechanism.”  

In an email to the Politico news platform, Hungary’s Foreign Affairs Ministry branded Poland’s snub as “pathetic and childish.”  

Poland previously led the EU Council in the second half of 2011. 

This time around, and in line with the motto ‘Security, Europe!,’ the Polish Presidency will support activities aimed at strengthening European security, including, among other areas, those relating to external, internal, information, economic, energy, food and health security.