Poland has been fighting with the EU for months and does not want to implement decisions made in Brussels.
Now the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is taking action – with a tough judgment! Poland is expected to pay a daily fine of one million euros.
The crux of the matter: Poland has introduced a “disciplinary chamber” to punish judges, and sends them early retirement if they politically do not suit the government.
According to ECJ rulings, this is not compatible with EU rules on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary – but Poland refuses to take it back.
Further background: The Polish government is raging against the EU and wants to recognize less and less when EU law takes precedence over national law. At the beginning of the week, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki even complained in the “Financial Times” that the EU would start a “third world war” if it continued to withhold money from Poland.
The EU Commission had demanded financial sanctions because of the attacks on the independence of the judiciary. 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 head 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”.
Poland had promised to abolish this disciplinary body in its current form, but did not follow up on this promise.
The chamber has so far been considered to be the heart of the judicial reforms initiated by the PiS government. It can dismiss any judge or public prosecutor – and so can punish judges for unpleasant decisions.
Not the first EU punishment for Warsaw: on September 20, Poland had already been fined by the ECJ for mining Turow lignite on the border with Saxony. 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.