A Warsaw court on Thursday issued a European arrest warrant for Marcin Romanowski, a deputy justice minister in Poland’s previous government, as part of an investigation into alleged abuse of public funds.
Hungary confirmed the same day that it had granted Romanowski political asylum, in a move that caused anger in Warsaw and further strained already-sour relations between Budapest and Warsaw.
The asylum decision was described by the Polish foreign ministry as being “against elementary principles binding on European Union member states.”
European Commission spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker said on Friday that, under EU law, an asylum application from one EU country to another can only be granted in exceptional circumstances.
This is because the member states of the bloc – which includes Poland and Hungary – are considered safe in terms of protection of fundamental rights and freedoms.
The investigation of Romanowski is part of a wider probe into alleged criminality during the eight-year rule of Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which is closely allied with nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Romanowski, who was a deputy justice minister from 2019 to 2023, faces charges including participation in an organized criminal group, rigging public funding competitions and embezzling over 107 million zloty (€25 million).
Polish prosecutors claim he directed staff to favor specific organizations in funding allocations and authorized grants to entities that failed to meet formal requirements.
That, according to critics of Poland’s former nationalist administration, was part of a larger pattern that saw the previous government misusing public funds on a mass scale to further its own political aims, while eroding democratic norms and destroying the rule of law.
Romanowski is the highest-profile official to date targeted as part of a probe launched after Poland’s centrist prime minister, Donald Tusk, took office following parliamentary elections last year.
Romanowski has denied the accusation against him and claims that his case is politically motivated.
