Europeans prepare to crack down on Poland

“We will not allow our common values ​​to be endangered. The Commission will act ”, said Ursula von der Leyen to MEPs meeting in Strasbourg on Tuesday, October 19. The message from the president of the community executive was addressed to Warsaw, after a decision of the Polish Constitutional Court of October 7 contesting the primacy of European law over national law.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who wanted to invite himself into the hemicycle to discuss the subject with elected officials, denounced “This language of threats or coercion”.

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For five years, the Commission and Poland have been in conflict, due to the justice reforms implemented by the Polish government. Brussels has multiplied initiatives – political and legal – to try to force it to return to an organization capable of guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary. Without success so far. The October 7 judgment, handed down by a court close to the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), further heightened tensions. In Poland, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in the streets on October 11 to recall their attachment to the community project.

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“I am deeply worried”, explained Ursula von der Leyen, because this judgment “Calls into question the foundations of the European Union [UE]. The ex-minister of Angela Merkel enumerated the tools which the Commission, guardian of the treaties, has at its disposal in order to make Warsaw bend. It is preparing to launch a new infringement procedure against Poland, which could lead to a referral to the Court of Justice of the EU. But, as a diplomat says, “We have it for two years” and there is no guarantee thereafter that Warsaw will execute the judgment of the Luxembourg Court.

In view of the latest developments, the Commission is also considering relaunching the so-called Article 7 procedure it initiated against Poland in December 2017, to protest against its judicial reforms. “It is a powerful instrument of the treaty. We have to come back to it ”, pleaded Ursula von der Leyen. This procedure, which can go as far as the suspension of the country’s voting rights in the Council, is currently at a standstill. ” The first step in this procedure is a vote, by four-fifths of the member states, to determine the risk of violation of the rule of law. This vote never took place, undoubtedly because its outcome was not certain ”, comments Eric Maurice, of the Robert-Schuman Foundation. Eastern European countries in particular were not ready for it. Today, the questioning by Warsaw of the Court of Justice of the EU and the rule of European law could remove some of their reluctance.

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