BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has sought to force Poland to comply with decisions by Europe’s top court with plans to demand daily fines against the nationalist government in Warsaw in a long-running dispute over Poland’s judicial system. Moved on Tuesday.
In a rare move, the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, said it wants the European Court of Justice to “impose financial penalties on Poland to ensure compliance” with one of the tribunal’s orders from July.
The commission, which monitors respect for EU laws, said it wants the Luxembourg-based court to impose a “daily fine” on Poland unless it improves the functioning of the Polish Supreme Court and undermines judicial independence. suspend the new laws.
The subject of contention is Poland’s disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court, a body given the power to discipline judges by the right-wing ruling party. Many Polish judges see the chamber as a tool to pressure judges to rule in favor of the governing authorities. In July, the European Court of Justice ordered it to be suspended but it is still functioning.
To date, while Poland’s ruling party has filled positions in the top courts, there are several lower court judges who act independently and issue decisions that go against the interests of the government.
The commission did not ask for an exact fine, but only in another similar case – an illegal logging dispute involving Poland in 2017 – the court ordered the Polish government to pay 100,000 euros ($119,000) a day until it complied. Gave. It is not clear how long the European Court of Justice may take to rule.
Police remove one of several protesters who blocked the entrance to the country’s constitutional court in an act of civil disobedience in Warsaw, Poland, August 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
The EU executive body also launched the first step in new legal action against Poland for not complying with a separate European Court of Justice ruling that the country’s rules for disciplining judges are not in line with EU law. Brussels said it would take the matter back to court if Warsaw did not give a satisfactory answer within two months.
In a tweet, European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova said, “The decisions of the European Court must be respected throughout the EU. This is essential to building and nurturing the necessary mutual trust between member states and citizens alike.” “
In Warsaw, a deputy justice minister, Sebastian Kaleta, accused the EU of carrying out “acts of aggression”. Another deputy justice minister, Marcin Romanowski, tweeted that “Brussels has launched yet another unlawful attack at a time when Poland is defending the eastern borders of the European Union” – a move by Belarus to send migrants to the 27-nation bloc. a reference to.
Legal observers see some of the justice policy changes imposed by Poland’s right-wing government undermining the power of EU laws within the country and even as a move away from the bloc. Poland joined the European Union in 2004, agreeing to abide by its rules and regulations.
Concerns over democratic backsliding in Poland are also blocking the country’s access to billions of euros in European funding to help revive its economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki speaks with the media as he arrives for the EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels on May 24, 2021. (Olivier Hoslet, AP, File via Poole)
Last week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that no one has the right to lecture his country on democracy, as talks with Brussels over access to recovery funds were underway.
“We fought for the rule of law and democracy during the terrible years of communism, but we have a long tradition of democracy and we do not want to be dictated by anyone in Western Europe what is democracy, what is the rule of law, Because we know best,” Moraviki said on Facebook.
Earlier this year, Morawiecki asked Poland’s top court to rule on whether the central European nation has the primacy of the Polish constitution or EU law.
The Constitutional Court is delaying its decision, with the next session now set for 22 September. Should it take precedence over Polish law, the decision would pose a threat to the legal order of the European Union.
The Commission insists that EU law has primacy over the national legal orders of the 27 member states.