BIn fact, the disciplinary body of the Polish Supreme Court was supposed to meet on Monday.This will be her first hearing after the verdict European Court of Justice (ECJ) announced last Thursday that the Polish judge’s disciplinary system does not comply with EU law. However, due to formal reasons, the meeting was postponed to the end of September.
However, Polish media said that in the face of the European Court of Justice’s request to immediately stop the work of its chambers, the judges actually did not know how to behave. The President of the Supreme Court announced last week that the Chamber will try again.She relies on Polish Constitutional Court, The day before the European Court of Justice’s ruling, it was declared that any influence of European judges on the operation of Polish courts was unconstitutional.
Poles’ expensive confrontation courses
Not only is the attitude of the Supreme Court judges contradictory. Even the right-wing government in Warsaw clearly doesn’t know how to respond to the European Court of Justice’s ruling. This put her in a difficult position.On the one hand, after her many hard-line speeches, she can move towards what she calls judicial reform disputes. European Commission And the European Court of Justice hardly withdrew without shame. On the other hand, if the Polish government does not implement the European Court of Justice’s ruling within a month, the European Commission threatens to pay a fine, making it clear to her that a confrontational approach on this issue may be very expensive for Poland.
Every Tuesday
And fines may be just a prelude to tougher financial sanctions. Due to doubts about the use of the Corona Reconstruction Fund’s rule of law control, the European Commission can temporarily suspend payments, as is the case in Hungary; if the European Court of Justice approves the new rule of law mechanism in the fall (which is considered possible), it may even You can choose to withdraw large amounts of funds from Poland.
Poland is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Corona Reconstruction Fund. The billions of dollars that the country is entitled to are a prerequisite for the implementation of the broad social welfare package announced by the government under the heading “Polish Order” in May. They should “united the right” under the leadership of the national conservative “law and justice” (Picosecond) Win the parliamentary elections in 2023. At the same time, the government camp torn apart by intrigue and content contradictions has once again consolidated. Since PiS candidate Andrzej Duda won the presidential election a year ago, a crisis has ensued and has been on the verge of collapse several times.
Hardline anti-European factions in the government camp
After announcing the European Court of Justice’s ruling on disciplinary agencies last week, Polish Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro immediately stated that “such decisions” did not affect Poland. Ciobro is a representative of the center-right, hardline anti-European faction in the government camp, which also owns the party’s Corona Reconstruction Fund. I Explicitly rejected as a threat to Polish sovereignty. Therefore, in the vote of the Polish parliament on this, the government relied on the votes of the opposition.
Now, various PiS politicians’ statements indicate that extensive changes to the laws that Polish courts and the Supreme Court work may be a way out. These new regulations will then be the subject of a new assessment by the European Commission and may bring a lawsuit in the European Court of Justice, which also-as in the case of the Disciplinary Chamber-may be delayed for more than two years.
However, the next possible confrontation between Poland and the EU is imminent in early August. On August 3, at the request of Prime Minister Mateus Morawiecki, the Polish Constitutional Court will decide whether the EU treaty conforms to the Polish Constitution. There is no doubt that the court will follow political guidelines when making this decision. Even the postponement sentence that was originally scheduled to be announced last week was interpreted by the Polish media as an attempt by the government to buy time for negotiations with Brussels.
PiS placed the Constitutional Court under its control immediately after its first election victory in the fall of 2015. Its chairman Julia Przylebska is a confidant of PiS chairman and deputy prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who plays a decisive role in all important decisions of the government. Critics of the Polish government point out that Poland’s EU Lisbon Treaty in 2007 was signed by Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s late twin brother Lech, who was the president at the time.
