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Faced with the prospect of losing billions in EU money and increasingly desperate to overturn opinion polls ahead of next year’s election, Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party on Wednesday signaled a pullback from long-running court disputes. that soured relations between Warsaw and Brussels. 🇧🇷
“We don’t have time for tug of war [with the Commission]🇧🇷 I appealed to the opposition to start working on the bill as soon as possible,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference on Wednesday.
A bill presented to the Polish parliament on Tuesday would implement a reform that Brussels has long sought. The idea would be to shift disciplinary judicial matters from a special chamber of the Supreme Court, which is seen as influenced by the government, to another higher court, the Supreme Court of Administration, which is seen as more independent.
The bill would also end sanctions against judges who raise questions about the status of other judges – a sensitive issue in Poland, as many newly appointed judges have dubious legal status.
Polish European Affairs Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk said these changes had been negotiated in Brussels with the Commission.
“If this project is approved, it will be equivalent – this is the declaration of the [European Commission] — to the release of funds to Poland,” said government spokesman Piotr Müller.
Judicial independence and the use of disciplinary measures to punish judges who have spoken out against the government’s judicial reforms are at the heart of the rule of law dispute between Poland and the EU.
The government argued that deep reforms were needed to make Polish courts more efficient, accessible and free of communist-era judges. Critics saw the legal changes, which began in late 2015, as an effort to bring the courts under tighter political control.
As a result, the European Commission withheld €35 billion in grants and loans from the pandemic recovery fund, and the EU Court of Justice last year imposed a fine of €1 million a day for failing to comply with an EU court order to suspend the country’s controversial disciplinary mechanism for judges.
Even Morawiecki admitted in a recent interview that the result is a mess: “We probably couldn’t have more chaos and problems in the judiciary than we currently have.”
Poland tried to back off five months ago, but the largely cosmetic reforms did little more than change the name of the disciplinary chamber and weren’t enough for the Commission to agree to unlock desperately needed money from the EU.
political pranks
Gaining EU approval to disburse the frozen funds, however, means the bill must pass through both chambers of parliament and then be signed by President Andrzej Duda, and this is not a done deal.
The government has a narrow majority in parliament and needs the votes of its far-right junior coalition partner, United Poland, to pass the measure. But the party, led by Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, the architect of the reforms, a hardline eurosceptic and political rival of Morawiecki, wants to delay deciding whether or not to support the bill.
Ziobro criticized the proposed compromises with Brussels as “blackmail”.
“I don’t know if United Poland will vote for it,” Morawiecki said in a radio interview. “The leadership of United Poland has asked for a few days for consideration.”
That’s why Morawiecki is asking the opposition to help push the legislation forward, but those parties are reluctant to rush in and help the government.
“We are ready to work, but it will not be done in an accelerated way. I think there is time for that next week,” said Borys Budka, parliamentary leader of the opposition Civic Platform party.
“We will do everything to get EU funds… on Wednesday.
But the government is ignoring these opposition qualms and intends to take the bill to parliament. The legislation’s first reading was scheduled for Thursday, PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek said on Wednesday, with the second and third readings taking place on Tuesday.
There are also doubts that the move to the Supreme Court of Administration is in line with the Polish constitution, but Morawiecki said he was certain of the legality of the move.
Some observers doubt that the proposed changes meet the Commission’s criteria.
Laurent Pech, professor of law at University College Dublin, called the bill a “joke” that does not meet the demands of the Commission and the Court of Justice.
Jakub Jaraczewski, research coordinator for Democracy Reporting International, a Berlin-based NGO, said: “The Commission must wait to see the final text of the law, but as it stands, the proposed legislation does not meet the fund’s milestones. recovery that Poland agreed with the Commission earlier this year.”
The opposition finds it difficult to hide its joy at the government’s difficulties.
“Don’t be upset buddy. These are good changes,” said Civic Platform leader and former European Council President Donald Tusk, mocking Morawiecki. “There is no need to go on your knees to Brussels.”
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