Ministers of European Affairs from the EU member-states will discuss the situation in Poland again on 12 November, Polish Press Agency learned from sources in the EU. There will be no hearing, however, only a briefing on recent developments. This decision was taken at the EU ambassadors' meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.
"In November, the European Commission will present an update on recent developments. A discussion will also be possible," a diplomat from one of the EU states has told PAP.
It will be yet another monthly meeting of the General Affairs Council devoted to the situation in Poland. So far, two hearings were held, as well as a discussion within the framework of recent developments update.
On 16 October, during the European affairs ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, the recent developments update point of the agenda transformed into a debate in which 11 member-states took the floor.
Polish diplomats are trying to persuade others that the Council of the EU doesn't have sufficient majority to push forward with the Article 7 procedure and, taking into account the pending case in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the political discussion should be ceased.
"We are always happy to resolve any doubts, but nevertheless, bearing in mind the case in the CJEU, we must focus on arguments of strictly legal nature," one of the Polish diplomats has told PAP.
According to the account regarding the ambassadors' meeting, the question of Hungary has raised large controversy, as well as the possible meeting under Article 7 procedure with a representative of the European Parliament. Unlike Poland's case in which the European Commission plays a key role, in Hungarian case, it was the Europarliament that decided to launch Article 7 procedure against that country.
Budapest questions this resolution before the CJEU, however, the EU presidency considers it as formally adopted. During the last Genaral Affairs Council, the ministers asked the European Commission to prepare a list of EU law infringement procedures that were directed to the CJEU.
At the last meeting of the European affairs ministers, vice-president of the European Commission Frans Timmermans argued that the situation in Poland hasn't improved; on the contrary - it has deteriorated and, on top of that, Polish authorities have expedited the changes by appointing judges to the Supreme Court.
Polish EU minister Konrad Szymański argued that connecting the issue of President's appointing Supreme Court justices with the issue of the law by which part of the judges had retired, is a misunderstanding. The government reassures that the newly-appointed judges did not replace those who had been forced to retire by the new law.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: European Union