EC increases pressure on Poland to solve constitutional crisis

The European Commission said on Wednesday that unless Poland makes significant progress on solving the constitutional crisis by Monday, May 23, it will send its opinion to Warsaw, which may lead to launching the second step of the rule of law procedure. "If there is no significant progress by 23 May, then the First Vice-President has been empowered by the College of Commissioners to adopt the draft Rule of Law Opinion which the College discussed today. After the Opinion is adopted and communicated to the Polish authorities, they have two weeks to submit their observations. On the basis of these observations, the Commission would pursue constructive dialogue with the Polish government with a view to finding solutions to the concerns set out in the opinion. If the concerns have not been satisfactorily resolved within a reasonable time, the Commission may issue a recommendation," a press release read. In January, the European Commission decided to start an inquiry under the Rule of Law framework into reforms of the Polish Constitutional Court.