he European Commission decided this week to take Poland to the top European Union court over court reforms the EU says could threaten the independence of the Polish judiciary, a senior EU official said.
Poland will be referred to the EU Court of Justice for its reform of the Supreme Court. Warsaw argues the changes were legal.
The Commission's move is the third step in a lengthy procedure to sanction member states who breach EU law.
The procedure is meant to put pressure on the offending member states and could eventually end with financial sanctions, although this has occurred only in rare cases.
The EU executive has taken its decision but postponed announcing it to Monday, Sept. 24, to avoid interfering with an informal summit of European Union leaders in Austria this week, the official told Reuters.
On Monday, the Commission announced that on Wednesday's session, the commissioners' college would take two decisions regarding the law infringement. One of those, as sources in Brussels told, was to be about taking the Poland's case to the CJEU.
Despite unofficial declarations, the European Commision did not make a decision on Wednesday, regarding directing a complaint against to Poland to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), concerning the Supreme Court law.
The lack of decision has raised bafflement among international journalists in Brussels. Some media outlets began to speculate that the commissioners have different opinions on, whether or not, they should take Poland's Supreme Court law case to the CJEU. A procedure is already pending against the said law in the Commission. Earlier on, some Polish and international media already released articles suggesting that Timmermans is seeking escalation of the dispute with Poland, whereas Juncker opts for softening action.
"Media revelations suggesting that the Vice Chairman of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans and Chairman, Jean-Claude Juncker are at odds regarding action taken against Poland, are untrue. They share the same opinion on this matter, and the commissioners fully support Timmermans in his decision to take further steps regarding Poland," Andreeva wrote.
On Thursday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke with the President of the European Commission
"Me and Jean-Claude Juncker are in constant discussion on Polish-European issues, in many different contexts; I'm always stressing the importance and necessity of the judiciary reforms and I'm under the impression that the president of the EC (Juncker) is trying to find a possible compromise," said Polish prime minister.
Morawiecki underscored the importance of a dialogue regarding reforms of the Polish judiciary in mutual relations between Warsaw and Brussels. "Dialogue over this issue is very important," he said.
On Tuesday, in Brussels, during the Council of the European Union's session, Poland's hearing was held within Article 7 of the EU Treaty procedure. Representatives of the Polish government were defending the changes to the Polish judicial system, whereas Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans argues that the situation had become worse.
The questions were asked by 12 countries, including France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and Finland. Mostly, the questions were about the Supreme Court, but also on respecting rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), as well about the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS). Representatives of the countries that had taken the floor emphasised that they would to take the procedure to the next stage.
German Minister for European Affairs, Michael Roth announced a joint statement by France and Germany. According to a source close to his delegation, he reminded that the rule of law case has been discussed at the Council of the EU 5 times since the European Commission had launched Article 7 procedure against Poland. Roth has also expressed his support for the action taken by the commission.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, Reuters
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Fakty TVN