Brussels not satisfied with Poland’s response over rule of law

Despite the previous media reports, the European Commission decided to continue its case against Poland for infringing the rule of law. “We remain open to dialogue, we remain open to finding constructive solutions. But, at the same time, we must discuss internally in the Commission, and with member states ... and with the European Parliament the new situation that has now arisen,” Deputy Head of the European Commission Frans Timmermans said. During his speech to the parliamentary committee, he said that it was unacceptable to return to a state where the party committee would decide on the court rulings. He also acknowledged that the concerns of the rule of law in Poland were shared by the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe. He did not, however, specify on the next steps but said he hopes that the situation will be somehow resolved. “We've always said that our stated objective is not the imposition of sanctions or resorting to Article 7, on the contrary, we are looking for real, constructive dialogue in order to address the rule of law situation in Poland,” Timmermans explained. According to the EC deputy head, Polish Law and Justice (PiS) government have offered no measures to address “grave concerns” that it infringes the rule of law. “The Polish reply does not announce any concrete measures to address the issues raised by the Commission,” he said, adding that “the Commission does not contest the right of the Polish government to introduce judicial reform. But we do maintain that judicial reform must respect the rule of law as one of the fundamental values which all member states signed up to when they joined the EU.” In his response, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski, accused Timmermans of overstepping his boundaries. “He decided to go beyond the prerogatives of an international official, of an international bureaucrat from a European institution and start a political debate, political actions against Poland,” he commented. Back in July, the European Commission has set a condition to Polish authorities not to take any steps aimed to transfer or force to retire the Supreme Court judges. After President Andrzej Duda vetoed such bill, the Commission decided that, for now, the red line was not crossed. Otherwise, the EC threatened to launch Article 7 procedure a move that can lead to the suspension of a member country’s voting rights. However to be implemented it needs to be approved by all member states unanimously, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has stated that he would veto any attempt to sanction Poland.