EU Commission deducts 30 million euros in penalties from Poland's funds

"The same mechanism once again. Poland receives a penalty, Poland is not fulfilling its obligations, the government is not fixing the judiciary, so the European Commission follows the same scenario for the seventh time. Poland is not paying the penalties, so the EU Commission deducts these penalties from the funds Poland is entitled to," Michał Tracz explained.

"Month after month the ruling camp politicians kept on saying: 'we will not surender a single euro cent'. The European Commission is just showing how we are not giving away a euro cent. Not only is Poland entitled to this money, but it should be allocated for concrete goals, concrete projects. The European Commission is simply not paying out this money," Tracz added.

TVN24 reporter also said the total sum of penalties deducted by the EU Commission amounted to nearly 270 million euros. "Let's not forget those are fines for not observing the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union - fines for the Disciplinary Chamber, but also for not reinstating removed judges, and the whole disciplinary system. And on the horizon there's still more money we might lose," he stressed.

According to Tracz, rumours could be heard in Brussels that "there might be no money from the Cohesion Fund, that the EU Commission may decide not to pay out any money at all". "The money from the approved Recovery Pland is still not here. And this 270 million euros is only part of the money we might lose," the reporter added.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was asked on Friday about the fines imposed on Poland by the CJEU. "The fines are for Turów among others. Can you imagine what would happen if we had closed Turów now and be short of a few percent of our electric energy system. It would be a disaster," he said.

"It's because we had it our way, today we have the power plant and energy for the whole of Poland," Morawiecki added. "Sometimes you have to face injustice, and that is exactly the case," Polish PM said.

Last year, the Court of Justice of the European Union imposed daily fines on Poland in relation to two cases: the functioning of Turów coal mine and of the contested Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court. The fines for Turów were being deducted from September 20, 2021 until February 3, 2022, and amounted to a total of 68.5 million euro.

TVN24 reporter Maciej Sokołowski said the daily fines for not resolving the Supreme Court issue have been accumulating since November 3, 2021.

He added the EU Commission had so far deducted money seven times - the last time being on October 27. In total, the daily penalties deducted for the 267 days between November 3 and July 27 amounted to 267 million euros.