New Lithuanian president against EU sanctions for Poland

WARSAW, Poland — Lithuania’s new president, Gitanas Nauseda, has spoken out against European Union sanctions on Poland the controversial changes it has made to its judiciary.

Nauseda was sworn in last week and was making his first foreign trip Tuesday to Poland for talks with his counterpart Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

He said the EU should seek an understanding of Poland’s actions, in which the government gained control of the judiciary, rather than pursue sanctions.

EU leaders say changes the government made to the judiciary threaten Poland’s rule of law and have opened a sanctioning procedure.

Duda called that a “form of oppression” and suggested it should stop.

The two also discussed challenges facing the EU, military co-operation and security in the region that borders militarily active Russia.

The Associated Press