Poland accuses Hungary of 'hostile' act over asylum case

A diplomatic standoff has broken out between Poland and Hungary after the Hungarian government granted political asylum yesterday to a former Polish deputy minister for justice.

Marcin Romanowski, a Polish member of parliament for the opposition Law and Justice party, is under investigation in Poland for the alleged misuse of public funds when he was deputy minister for justice for the previous Law and Justice government between 2019 and 2023.

Polish authorities issued an arrest warrant earlier this month for Mr Romanowski who faces 11 charges of misusing public funds from the justice ministry, which public prosecutors say amounted to the misuse of 107m Polish zloty (€25m), and an attempt to misuse a further 58m Polish zloty (€13m).

Polish police said that they were aware that Mr Romanowski was in Hungary and yesterday a court in Warsaw issued a European arrest warrant for him.

Hungary's decision to grant Mr Romanowski's request for political asylum has been met with criticism from senior Polish government officials.

This morning, Hungary’s ambassador to Poland was summoned to the Polish ministry of foreign affairs in Warsaw and issued with a protest note.