Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper) Poland has asked the European Union to stop levying the 1 million euro per day fine against the country, claiming that Warsaw had amended the rule of law breach that warranted the EU top court’s ruling penalising Poland.
The legal spat between the European Commission and Warsaw originated with the Polish government implementing a judiciary reform, which introduced a disciplinary body authorised to penalise the justices of the country’s top court. The Commission argued that the disciplinary chamber represents a rule of law breach due to its lack of protection against political influence.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled against Poland in October last year, ordering the country to pay 1 million euro for each day that it keeps its disciplinary chamber running. The fines have meanwhile piled up to 370 million euro, with some 270 million already deducted from the funds Poland would otherwise receive from the EU.
Warsaw promised to revise the judiciary reform, but has taken its time in replacing the controversial disciplinary chamber with a different body, even as critics point out that the underlying problem of justices not being guaranteed their independence remains.
“We have filed a motion to suspend the imposition of penalties after the CJEU ruling on the Disciplinary Chamber,” said Polish EU Affairs Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk on Friday, adding that the motion contains “strong arguments” about the ways the government had changed the disciplinary system for justices.
Poland previously sent a similar motion in June, but it was rejected. “Back then, we assessed that while we have seen progress on certain specific issues, not all of the obligations… have been fully addressed in its new law on the Supreme Court,” said Commission spokesman Christian Wigand.
Warsaw introduced a new disciplinary body, called the “Chamber of Professional Responsibility,” where all 11 judges in the Chamber were appointed by the Polish President Andrzej Duda, a candidate of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.
