Subscribe here: [ Ссылка ] Two of Poland’s leaders sent different signals on Saturday on legislation designed to unblock European Union funds, underscoring divisions in the ruling camp over a bill that has seen mounting uncertainty over its future.
Poland’s government, embroiled in a long-running row with the EU over alleged politicisation of the country’s courts, said on Tuesday it had agreed amendments to a judicial law with Brussels that would release 35.4 billion euros ($37.5 billion) in COVID-19 recovery funds withheld over the dispute.
However, on Saturday ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, widely seen as Poland’s de facto ruler, was quoted as saying the bill containing the amendments could be “extremely destructive”.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki subsequently urged lawmakers to quickly resolve the dispute with Brussels, arguing that unblocking the funds would help Poland boost defence spending as war rages in neighbouring Ukraine as well as shoring up the country’s financial security.
“The dispute with the European Commission must be ended, because the real conflict is taking place east of Poland today,” Morawiecki wrote in a Facebook post.
The bill has split the ruling camp, with the ultra-conservative United Poland, a junior partner in government, saying it will vote against it on the grounds that it damages Polish sovereignty and could cause chaos in the judicial system.
After President Andrzej Duda expressed doubts about the legislation, the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party said it would be taken off the agenda of a parliamentary sitting on Thursday, leaving the reform proposals in limbo.
The comments by PiS leader Kaczynski added to uncertainty over the bill’s passage.
“The effects in Poland could be extremely destructive, not only for the judiciary, but also for the entire state apparatus,” Kaczynski was quoted as saying in an extract of an interview with the Gazeta Polska weekly.
He said its adoption would “probably, but not certainly” fulfil the milestones set out by the European Commission as conditions for receiving the funds, but it required further consultation.
Under the bill, the Supreme Administrative Court would deal with disciplinary cases instead of a contested chamber of the Supreme Court, in a bid to address concerns that the previous system had been used to punish judges critical of the government’s judicial reforms.
Judges would also not face disciplinary action for questioning the independence of colleagues appointed by organs that critics say are politicised.
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#eudebates the unique initiative aiming to promote debate, dialogue, knowledge, participation and communication among citizens. #Poland #Warsaw #Orbán #EUfunds #RuleofLaw #ViktorOrban #Fidesz
As part of the agreement with the European Commission, Poland is to change once again its disciplinary procedures against judges, by transferring the highest instance in such matters from the Supreme Court to the Higher Administrative Court (NSA). However, some lawyers and members of the opposition see this as further proof of the disrespect of PiS and the Morawiecki government for the constitution and the principles of law, since the NSA’s competences are defined in the Polish constitution and that court is in principle only competent in the area of administrative justice.
Moreover, this does not solve the questioning by EU bodies of the legitimacy of the PiS-reformed National Judicial Council (KRS) and of the Constitutional Court, which was at the centre of a serious conflict at the very beginning of the PiS governments back in 2015–2016. With parliamentary elections scheduled for next year and the post-Covid economic crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, the Polish government is counting on billions from the European recovery plan for its investments in clean energy, and also to free up the funds needed for its defence effort, as the level of defence spending is set to reach 3% of GDP next year. The Morawiecki government, struggling with a yearly inflation rate of over 17%, also hopes that the transfer of NextGenerationEU funds will strengthen the Polish currency and thus have an anti-inflationary effect.
