Poland on Tuesday threatened to use its veto for the EU budget and the coronavirus recovery fund, as part of a long-running row over criticism from Brussels of democratic standards in Poland. "There will be a veto," Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski told Gazeta Polska Codziennie, according to an extract from an interview to be published in full on Wednesday. "If the threats and blackmail are maintained, then we will firmly defend Poland's vital interest," said Kaczynski, head of the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party. "This is how we will act against anyone who uses any extortion against us. I will repeat it again -- because I have already said it -- we are on the right side of history. "It is those who want to take our sovereignty and impose their fantasy on us who are on their way to collapse," he said. "We will not allow ourselves to be terrorised with money," he added. The European Union last month criticised Poland and Hungary in its first report on democratic standards across the bloc, focusing in particular on the issue of judicial independence. The report said Polish legal reforms "have increased the influence of the executive and legislative powers over the justice system and therefore weakened judicial independence". The Polish government insists the moves are needed to tackle corruption and remove the last vestiges of communism from the justice system. The "rule of law" dispute has hampered lengthy negotiations about the EU's long-term budget and is likely to spill into this week's summit. The European Parliament and several member states want to see funding for countries like Poland and Hungary tied to respect for democratic values. But the two countries fiercely oppose this and have threatened to veto Europe's coronavirus recovery plan. dt/jj