Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki arrives for a debate on the future of Europe during a plenary session at the European Parliament on July 4, 2018 in Strasbourg | Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images Polish PM to EU: Don’t lecture us Mateusz Morawiecki questions whether the European Commission is an ‘honest broker’ in fight over rule-of-law sanctions.

STRASBOURG — Poland’s prime minister called on the EU to stop “lecturing” his country and questioned whether the European Commission is an "honest broker" in the fight over rule of law during a tense debate with MEPs Wednesday.

At a debate on the future of Europe in the Strasbourg plenary, Mateusz Morawiecki said he would not back down on Poland's judiciary changes and made a plea for a “union of nations 2.0” that needs to “renew the social contract” in Europe. “Judges are more independent now than they were in the past," he said.

“Poland is a proud country, please don’t lecture us about these sort of things,” he said, calling the Commission’s efforts to apply its rule-of-law procedure “disappointing.”

“I have to think whether or not the European Commission is really an honest broker,” he said. “We’ve made a great deal of efforts to reach out a hand … Today I think we’ve come to a point in time where we’ve made changes.”

The debate took place at a critical moment in the confrontation between Poland and the EU, coming just after Polish President Andrzej Duda used a new law to force the top judge on the country’s Supreme Court into early retirement. It also took place a day after Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans announced he would open an infringement procedure against Poland for bringing down the retirement age for Supreme Court judges to 65, which effectively allows the government to dismiss serving judges above that age. Morawiecki said Wednesday that Poland would "respect the judgement" of the European Court of Justice.

The Commission took the unprecedented step of triggering Article 7 — the so-called nuclear option — against Poland in December, following countless warnings, requests for dialogue and demands for clarifications about changes that it says risk undermining judicial independence in the country.

But Poland has shown little sign of stepping back from its controversial actions, forcing the retirement of Poland's Supreme Court president, Małgorzata Gersdorf. She defied that move Wednesday, showing up for work and telling reporters: “I continue to be the first president of the Supreme Court. I presided over the court’s collegium this morning and I took and signed several decisions.”

Morawiecki’s initial lack of responsiveness about the rule of law caused an outrage among leading MEPs, who called on him to amend his controversial laws and to stop dividing Europe. “There are questions on the table,” said Manfred Weber, the leader of the conservative European People’s Party. "I think you missed today an opportunity to clarify these questions.”

Weber also described Poland as "that one single member blocking everything.”

Udo Bullmann, who leads the Socialist group in the Parliament, lashed out against Poland's actions. “What is the Polish contribution to the well functioning of the eastern lung?” he said, referring to a speech by former Pope John Paul II, who was Polish, in which he said that Europe needed to breathe with both its eastern and western lungs. “She [Gersdorf] is obviously paying tribute to the Polish contribution,” he said. “Don’t destroy the democratic culture in your country and don’t say in this house you are protecting our values,” Bullmann added.

Liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt urged Morawiecki to “turn the wheel and bring Poland back into the group of democratic nations.”

The Polish leader also told MEPs that his country would listen to those who are not enthusiastic about more European integration. “If citizens don’t share their view (of more EU integration) then no further integration can be possible,” Morawiecki said. “If the EU project is to move forward therefore its democratic legitimacy has to be reinforced.”

“You can call it populism if you like,” he said.

Michał Broniatowski contributed reporting.