The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ordered Poland to pay a daily fine of one million euros. According to a statement by the Court of Justice on Wednesday, the reason for the step is the country’s refusal to date to implement decisions by the highest court on controversial judicial reforms. Specifically, it is particularly about the order to stop the work of the controversial disciplinary body to punish judges. According to ECJ rulings, the activity is not compatible with EU rules on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
The financial sanctions against Poland were requested on September 9th by the EU commission responsible for monitoring the rule of law in the EU. They are now due until Poland complies with the ECJ’s orders. “The judicial systems in the entire European Union must be independent and fair,” Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen criticized at the time. Poland’s Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, on the other hand, spoke of “aggression against Poland” and of a “legal hybrid war”.
The ECJ had previously ruled in mid-July that Poland violated European law with the disciplinary body. In addition, an interim order has been issued to the country to suspend the provisions that empower the Disciplinary Body to rule on requests for the waiver of judicial immunity and issues relating to the employment and retirement of judges. The decision also affected other provisions of Polish law relating to the independence of judges.
Poland then announced that the controversial disciplinary body in its current form would be abolished. In the end, however, she continued to work off old cases. The chamber has so far been considered to be the heart of the judicial reforms initiated by the right-wing conservative PiS government. The chamber can dismiss any judge or public prosecutor. Critics fear that it could serve to reprimand judges for unpleasant decisions.
On September 20, Poland was sentenced to a fine by the ECJ for the Turów open-cast lignite mine on the border with Saxony and the Czech Republic. Despite an interim ECJ order from May, Warsaw did not stop lignite mining, according to an order from ECJ Vice-President Rosario Silva de Lapuerta. Therefore, from now on, Poland will have to pay a fine of 500,000 euros to the EU budget for every day it does not comply with the order.
Judicial reforms have long been a point of contention between the EU and the Warsaw government. The extent of the mutual lack of understanding became clear last week in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. In his speech, the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused the EU Commission and the other member states of applying double standards. In Germany and France, too, the respective constitutional courts reserved the right to limit the influence of the European Court of Justice. He tries to expand his competencies in an impermissible way. The highest right of the Polish Republic is and will remain the Polish constitution. Anyone who tries to impose their own decision on others without a legal basis is “a blackmailer,” said Morawiecki.
In return, the MPs accused Morawiecki of twisting the facts. His government’s policies endanger one of the cornerstones of the European Union. “Anyone who rejects the primacy of the European Court of Justice, who rejects the European Union as a legal community, who rejects the independence of the judiciary, is effectively leaving the European Union as a legal community,” said the German CSU politician Manfred Weber, who was the conservative EPP Group chairs.