Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo on Wednesday called on the country’s centrist opposition to join her conservative government in presenting a united front against what she called “slander” from abroad.

“Poland has been unfairly accused of things that don’t exist in our country… of breaking the principles of the rule of law. That’s not true. Democracy is alive and well in Poland,” Szydlo told parliament.

“Today we need to put our quarrels aside, join forces and discuss what to do to stabilise the situation abroad.”

She spoke as the European Commission was holding a debate in Brussels on the state of rule of law in Poland, which could lead to potentially punitive measures.

The Commission took the unprecedented move because of concern over the Polish government’s controversial legal manoeuvres to gain control over the country’s top court and public broadcasters.

Relations between Brussels and Warsaw have been strained since the Law and Justice party (PiS), led by the eurosceptic Jaroslaw Kaczynski, returned to power in October after eight years in opposition.

The European Parliament will also debate the state of rule of law in Poland in Strasbourg on January 19, with Szydlo in attendance.

She said Wednesday that she was not planning “to humbly listen” to criticism of Poland while in Strasbourg.

Szydlo’s comments drew strong words from opposition lawmakers, including liberal Ryszard Petru, who said the conservatives were “reaping the harvest of their own actions”.

“It’s not Poland that is being slandered, nor its citizens. It’s our partners who are concerned by your actions,” added Rafal Trzaskowski, a lawmaker from the liberal Civic Platform (PO) party that lost the general election to the PiS.

Addressing the conservatives, he added: “It is you yourselves who are mounting power grabs against the constitutional court, state media, the civil service, who today are preparing another power grab against prosecutorial independence.”