The Polish government seized Thursday, December 23 the Constitutional Court so that it decides on the European mechanism conditioning the funds to the respect of the rule of law, a new stage in its showdown with Brussels.
Read alsoIn Poland, a law aimed at dismissing an influential private television channel
“The European conditionality mechanism is inherently very dangerous. It allows the European Commission, for political, arbitrary and out of control reasons, to exercise blackmail, and even extreme economic violence.Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro told reporters.
“This is why I decided to refer it to the Polish Constitutional Court.“, he added. Poland, like Hungary, has already taken this issue to European justice to have this mechanism annulled. The Court of Justice of the EU is due to rule in early 2022. Considerable sums are at stake for Poland with 75 billion euros over seven years for cohesion funds and 31 billion over seven years for the financing of the Policy common agricultural.
Sentenced by European justice
Under the influence of the national-populists in power, the Polish Constitutional Court already in June challenged the authority of the Court of Justice of the EU, and, in October, questioned the primacy of European law over Polish law. On Wednesday, Brussels launched an infringement procedure against Poland following these judgments of the Constitutional Court, stressing that the latter “no longer met the requirements of an independent and impartial tribunal established by law, as required by the treaty“.
In September and October, European justice sentenced Poland to penalties of one million euros for each day of operation of the controversial disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court, and 500,000 euros per day for the work of a mine lignite at the Polish-Czech border. Warsaw refused to pay.
Read alsoFaced with record inflation, Poland sets up a “shield”
The EU is engaged in a long and deep standoff with Warsaw over the judicial reforms launched by the Polish national-populist Law and Justice (PiS) party in power since 2015. These reforms, accused of undermining the independence of judges , have earned Poland several sentences by the CJEU. Warsaw justifies these changes in particular by its desire to fight against corruption within the judiciary. The controversial reforms have also led the European Commission to block for several months the approval of Poland’s post-Covid recovery plan providing for the payment of 23.9 billion euros in grants and 12.1 billion euros in loans. .
SEE ALSO – European Commission launches infringement procedure against Poland