Asked on Thursday whether Poland's recently renewed law on the Supreme Court fulfils the milestones for the recovery plan, European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova replied: "No, it does not". "Poland will need to reflect on the conditions," she said, reiterating that the EU executive would not pay out the recovery money if Poland does not comply.
Vice-President of the European Commission Vera Jourova said on Thursday that Poland's newly amended law on the Supreme Court did not meet the milestones set out by the EU executive, that would allow Poland to receive money from the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
"Poland will have to reflect in the conditions, and if they do not have a sufficient response in the legally binding rules for the Polish judiciary, which will correspond with the milestones, we will not pay the money. But I'm repeating what the President (of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen) had already said," Jourova said.
TVN24 correspondent in Brussels Maciej Sokołowski asked EU Commission spokesperson to comment on Jourova's words, and in reply he heard that the Commission was not yet at a stage to make such judgements.
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was also asked about Jourova's opinion. "Poland and other EU member states have indicators and set out goals to achieve. Some indicators are met in 100%, other a bit less than that. That's when a process of discussion and negotiations with the European Commission begins," he said.
"We need unity and solidarity. So if someone wants to bean-count indicators and targets then obviously some things may not be exactly right, but we will fight for our rights," Morawiecki stressed, adding that he was optimistic that Poland would receive the first tranche of recovery money at the turn of this and the next year.
In mid-June, Poland's President Andrzej Duda evening signed an amended bill on the Supreme Court into law. The main goal of the legislation is to dismantle the unlawfully appointed Disciplinary Chamber for judges and replacing it with a Chamber of Professional Responsibility.
The bill had been approved by the parliament on June 9, but the Sejm rejected 23 out of 29 changes proposed by the Senate, including all crucial ones from a substantive point of view. Some of them assumed nullification of all verdicts passed by the Disciplinary Chamber.
One rejected amendment assumed that with the adoption of the bill all Disciplinary Chamber judges would cease to be Supreme Court justices.
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.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP, TVN24