"Poland has made progress, but not enough progress", said the Chairman of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday. He emphasised that he is optimistic with regard to the negotiations with Warsaw.
"I have the best relations possible with the Polish prime minister. I think Poland has made progress, but not enough progress. However, we continue the discussion and negotiations which must be concluded by the end of June or in early July. I’m optimistic", Mr Juncker said at a press conference in Brussels.
These words were uttered a few hours before a planned meeting between the EC chairman and prime minister Morawiecki during the unofficial EU summit in Sofia. Both leaders already spoke on the phone on Monday, after deputy chairman Frans Timmermans informed that at this stage withdrawal of Article 7 is impossible. The Commission triggered it against Poland in December after it adopted the changes regarding, among other things, the functioning of the National Judiciary Council and the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, Mr Timmermans presented to the Commissioners’ College the information on the state of dialogue with Poland regarding sticking points over the Polish judiciary. In his opinion, recently adopted changes are still insufficient to guarantee the independence of the judiciary and the eradication of systemic threat to the rule of law.
Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos who briefed the journalists on the course of the Wednesday’s meeting, emphasised that the Commission supports Timmermans’ approach. "The College is unanimous. Deputy chairman, Frans Timmermans has made himself clear," said Mr Avramopoulos.
The next session of General Affairs Council which gathers the ministers for foreign affairs from the EU member states is scheduled on 26 June. Polish rule of law issue will be discussed on that day. Mr Timmermans suggested that until then a certain decision should be taken that would enable the Commission to either withdraw or freeze the Article 7 procedure, or to move forward with it.
Mr Juncker’s words regarding the necessity of ending the dispute with Poland refer also to July 3. This date was already mentioned by Mr Timmermans on Monday as by July 3, according to the binding law, some of the Supreme Court judges may be forced to retire. The Commission assumes that the status of the judges who didn’t apply to continue their work after reaching retirement age, will be unclear.
According to Mr Timmermans, the Commission approves of the recently adopted changes regarding differentiating retirement age for male and female judges as well as regarding appointing court assessors.
However, the December recommendations which the Commission still upholds touch upon a series of other issues. For instance, appointing of the National Judiciary Council members by the judges community, restitution of independence and legitimacy of the Constitutional Tribunal, abolishing president’s right to prolong tenures of the Supreme Court judges as well as rescinding the extraordinary complaint procedure.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24, PAP