The European Commission will continue to issue calls for payment of the 1-million-euro-per-day penalty it has imposed on Poland for not complying with a Court of Justice of the EU ruling. Poland's EU Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk asked the EU executive last year to suspend the imposition of the fines. In 2021, the EU high court ordered Poland to suspend the application of disciplinary rules for judges.
A daily fine of 1 million euro has been imposed on Poland on Nov. 3, 2021, for not complying with the CJEU ruling ordering the country to immediately cease the application of disciplinary regulations for judges, including stripping judges of immunity.
In early November, 2022, Poland's Minister for the European Union Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk announced that Poland had requested the fines be suspended. He argued at the time that the motion included a vast argumentation pointing out new legal circumstances, such as the replacement of the contested Disciplinary Chamber with the Professional Liability Chamber.
EU Commission responds
The EU Commission said on Thursday (April 13) it "has carefully analysed the arguments contained in the letter of 3 November 2022 sent by the Polish authorities to the Commission asking to discontinue calls for payments".
"The Commission is therefore bound to continue its calls for payment to the Republic of Poland of the daily penalties imposed by the order of the Vice-President of the Court of Justice of 27 October 2021, as long as not all obligations stemming from the Order of 14 July 2021 have been satisfactorily addressed and as long as the Order of 27 October 2021 has not been cancelled or varied by the Court of Justice," the EU executive said in the response.
Furthermore, the Commission said that pending the assessment of Poland's motion, the calls for payment had been on hold. "This is the usual procedure when we receive such requests so that we can analyse the arguments. The calls for payments are then relaunched if the Commission considers that the breach continues."
The Commission stressed that "the calls for payment will continue as usual to implement the order of the Court".
The last deduction from EU funds for Poland resulting from the fines was done on Jan. 30. The Commission has so far deducted 10 tranches (for the period between Nov. 3, 2021 and Oct. 28, 2022) worth a total of 360 million euro.
According to TVN24 correspondent in Brussels Maciej Sokołowski, the response from the Commission means that calls for payments will soon be issued again. The total sum for the period between Oct. 29, 2022 and March 30, 2023 amounted to 153 million euro.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, TVN24
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