Supreme Court Disciplinary Chamber replaced by Chamber of Professional Responsiblity. Is it enough to unlock EU funds?

In mid-June, Poland's President Andrzej Duda evening signed the amended bill on the Supreme Court into law. The main goal of the legislation was to dismantle the unlawfully appointed Disciplinary Chamber for judges and replacing it with a Chamber of Professional Responsibility.

The move is also meant end the long-running dispute between Warsaw and Brussels regarding the rule of law, and consequently to unlock money earmarked for Poland as part of the EU recovery plan.

Whether the change is sufficient to achieve this goal remains to be seen, as the EU executive was still examining Poland's new law on courts.

However, Vice-President of the European Commission Vera Jourova had already mentioned on June 30 that said legislation had not met the set out milestones.

The European Commission demanded Poland introduce changes to the law on the Supreme Court, saying that if the country acts otherwise, it would not receive money from the recovery fund.

On June 17, the Council of the European Union approved Poland's National Recovery Plan, in line with EU Commission's recommendation issued earlier that month. All member states were in favour of backing of the plan, except for the Netherlands which decided to abstain.

"The Council of the EU's approval ends the procedure on the EU institutions' part, but that does not mean Poland will receive the money, as that will depend on the country's compliance with the milestones agreed as part of the plan," TVN24 correspondent said at the time.

Under the deal, Poland is to get 23.9 billion euros in grants and 11.5 billion euros in cheap loans over several years.

But the Commission said the plan included milestones related to important aspects of the independence of the judiciary and which had to be put in place for the recovery plan to be effective.

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who depends on the EU parliament's support to pass policies, said earlier in June that Poland must dismantle the Disciplinary Chamber and replace it with a "substantially different" one.

The second condition for payments she set out was Warsaw changing its disciplinary regime in general, including to ensure it does not punish judges seeking clarifications from the ECJ.

Thirdly, judges already sanctioned by the standing disciplinary chamber must be able to have their cases reviewed.

"Poland needs to demonstrate that these milestones are fulfilled before any disbursement can be made," the Commission statement said.

The European Union's top court said in October 2021 it had ordered Poland to pay a penalty of 1 million euros ($1.16 million) per day for not suspending the disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court.

As of July 15, the penalty for not dismantling of the contested chamber amounted to over 254 million euros.