EU actions on constitutional tribunal are premature - Foreign Ministry

European Commission's actions on Wednesday with respect to the issue of Poland's constitutional tribunal are premature and expose the Commission to a risk of losing its authority, the Polish foreign ministry said in a statement. On July 27, the EC urged Poland to apply over the next three months measures to protect the powers of the Constitutional Tribunal. The Commission said Warsaw had not done enough and that there is still “a systemic threat to the rule of law” in Poland. The EC called on the Polish government to act within three months if it wanted to avoid further sanction, saying it should, among other things, allow the judges appointed by the last parliament to be seated. "With respect to the today's decision of the European Commission we hereby say that the actions of the Commission prior to the coming into law of the law on the Constitutional Tribunal are decisively premature. They expose the Commission to a risk of losing the authority necessary to carry out functions described in European treaties," the ministry said. In June, the European Commission expressed concern about the situation and sent an official opinion to Warsaw spelling out “the problems we need to solve,” including the composition of Poland’s constitutional court and the publication of its rulings.