EU summit in Brussels: Poland in focus

At today’s meeting of EU heads of state and government, the signs point to a dispute. The background to this is the conflict over Poland’s judicial reform. For Angela Merkel it will be her last EU summit as Chancellor.

As the outgoing Chancellor, Angela Merkel is currently doing many “last times”. Today is another one – your likely last EU summit as the German head of government.

In fact, the meeting of European heads of state and government should mainly focus on the problem of rising energy prices. But developments over the past few weeks have brought another conflict into focus – that with Poland.

New escalation in an old conflict

The dispute over the judicial reform being promoted by Poland in its own country and the violations of the rule of law that go with it from an EU perspective have been simmering for a long time. The latest escalation goes back to a ruling by the Polish Constitutional Court around two weeks ago. In essence, the judges ruled that parts of EU law were incompatible with the Polish constitution and that in these cases national law took precedence over EU law.

The EU now fears that Poland will no longer recognize judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) – the highest body in matters of jurisdiction in the EU – on the basis of this ruling. In the past, the ECJ had already initiated several infringement proceedings against Poland for violations of the rule of law.

Morawiecki speaks of “blackmail”

But despite renewed measures by the EU, Poland is not deviating from its position. Most recently, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed in the EU Parliament two days ago that the EU’s competencies had limits and that it refused to cope with excessive cuts in Polish sovereignty.

At the parliamentary session, Morawiecki had to take sharp criticism for his country’s political course. This would sow “split and strife” in Poland, said the EPP parliamentary group leader Manfred Weber. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen had previously threatened Poland with financial sanctions, whereupon Morawiecki accused the EU of blackmail and threats.

Greens criticize Merkel’s stance

On the other hand, more diplomatic tones came from Germany – from Chancellor Merkel: “We have big problems, but I advise you to solve them in conversation and to find compromises.” Merkel’s concern is that, as a result of too much pressure from the EU, Poland could block important joint projects – such as better climate protection in the EU.

For the Greens, this is far too gentle a tenor compared to Poland. Franziska Brantner, the party’s European politician, asked Merkel to take a much more decisive stance towards Poland at the EU summit. She referred to the resistance within the Polish population against the judicial reform in their own country. In Poland, people had repeatedly taken to the streets to call for their own government to take a more open course to the EU. It is “irresponsible” that Merkel “continues to stand by Poland’s Prime Minister Morawiecki instead of showing solidarity with the people on the street,” said Brantner.