The head of Poland’s ruling party, Jarosław Kaczyński, has declared that the European Union’s treaties – which constitute the basis of EU law – are no longer in force because they have been violated by EU institutions, which are “unlawfully” blocking Polish funds.

He also warned that the EU is currently heading in the direction of a “Fourth Reich” under German dominance, but pledged that Poland and other countries would resist such changes.

Speaking with conservative daily Gazeta Polska Codziennie in an interview published on Friday, Kaczyński said that the goal of the new German government is to “build a federal EU under the leadership of Berlin”.

“If we, as Poles, agreed to such modern serfdom, we would be degraded in various ways,” said Kaczyński, who as chairman of the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party is the country’s most powerful politician.

Poland is one of a number of countries “not enthusiastic about the prospect of building the Fourth German Reich based on the EU”, said Kaczyński. But he clarified that, by using such language, he was “referring not to a [continuation] of the [Nazi] Third Reich, but to the First Reich”.

“I think that [the term ‘Fourth Reich’] reflects the direction of these changes quite well,” explained Kaczyński. He argued that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is being used as a “tool” to create a federal superstate. Its rulings provide a “pseudo-legal alibi for usurpation [of powers] beyond the treaties”.

“The treaties have ceased to be in force, and the new legislator is the ECJ,” said the PiS chairman. He also accused the European Commission of acting in a “completely unlawful” manner by blocking Poland’s payments from the EU’s Covid recovery fund due to concerns over the rule of law.

Meanwhile, “the madness of the energy transformation” being implemented by the commission would “lead Polish families to poverty within a decade”, said Kaczyński. The Polish government “must protect citizens and companies against this aggressive action”, he added.

Kaczyński said that his party is “trying to build a front” to oppose the EU’s current direction. His party recently hosted the latest in a series of meetings between European right-wing and far-right leaders, including Viktor Orbán and Marine Le Pen.