![]() ![]() Initially, the commission delayed approval of Poland’s national recovery plan (KPO), an operational programme necessary for its coronavirus funds to be released, until PiS implemented a July 2021 ECJ ruling that it disband a newly created supreme court disciplinary chamber for judges. Notes from Poland □□ September 3, 2022 "Germany wants a colonial government in Poland that will implement its goals", led by Donald Tusk, and "that is why they are blocking" Poland's EU funds, says the Polish justice minister It accused the EU political establishment of bias and double standards, and using the “rule-of-law” issue as a pretext to victimise PiS because the party rejected the EU’s liberal-left consensus on moral-cultural issues which it felt undermined Poland’s traditional values and national identity. PiS’s supporters, on the other hand, argued that the reforms were justified because, following Poland’s flawed transition to democracy in 1989, the judiciary, like many key institutions, was expropriated by an extremely well-entrenched, and often deeply corrupt, post-communist elite. The EU institutions agreed with Poland’s legal establishment and most opposition parties that these reforms undermined judicial independence and threatened the key democratic principle of the constitutional separation of powers. The PiS government has been in a long-running dispute with the EU political establishment over so-called “rule-of-law” issues since it came to office, particularly over its judicial reforms. Satisfying the commission’s “milestones”? New Polish judicial law does not meet all requirements to unlock funds, says EU Commission chiefĪlthough the Polish government’s leverage here is limited, and it has not said what precise actions it is considering, possible options include: taking legal action against the commission before the EU’s Court of Justice (ECJ) building a coalition to dismiss the current college of commissioners vetoing areas of EU decision-making that require unanimity in the European Council (such as taxation and foreign affairs) and, while Kaczyński ruled out totally suspending Poland’s membership fees, lowering the country’s EU contributions by, for example, the portion resulting from the repayment of obligations incurred for the recovery fund (although such a move would obviously risk retaliatory action). In an interview with the conservative Sieci magazine, PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński – who, although he does not hold any formal state positions, exercises a powerful behind-the-scenes influence in determining the government’s programmatic and strategic priorities – accused the European Commission of “not fulfilling its obligations with regard to Poland” and trying to create “total chaos in the Polish state”. ![]() ![]() Last month, in what some commentators interpreted as a turning point in the Polish government’s EU strategy, the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) grouping, the country’s ruling party since autumn 2015, appeared to significantly ramp up its criticisms of the union’s political establishment. A turning point in Law and Justice’s EU strategy? Poland’s right-wing ruling party has accused the EU political establishment of breaking its agreement with Warsaw following suggestions that the country may not receive its share of the union’s post-pandemic recovery funds.Īlthough, given Poles’ increasingly instrumental approach towards EU membership, failing to secure access to these monies could be extremely damaging for the ruling party, Brussels’ actions may backfire if it is felt to be interfering in national politics to boost its opposition allies’ chances in the upcoming election.
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