Suddenly Poland’s politicians seemed very forgiving. On Thursday, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced he would dissolve the so-called Disciplinary Chamber at the Supreme Court, which contradicts EU law because it limits judges’ independence. At the same time, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala settled the dispute over the Turów opencast lignite mine in Prague. Signs of reconciliation that could help the Polish government – so it seemed – to save and get a lot of money. Because Poland currently has to transfer 1.5 million euros in fines to the EU every day. In addition, the Commission is blocking the payment of aid from the Corona development fund – until Poland returns to the rule of law. But on closer inspection, neither reconciliation nor saving money is all that far away.
The dispute with the Czech Republic lasted for six years, most recently the European Court of Justice had banned the operation of the Turów opencast mine in the German-Czech-Polish border triangle because it took place without an environmental impact assessment. In the case of the residents on the Czech side, the soil is drying out and the groundwater level is falling rapidly. Poland has to pay the EU half a million euros in fines for every day of illegal operation – which it doesn’t do and still doesn’t want to do. The costs have now totaled 68.5 million euros.
As a result of the settlement now concluded with the Czech government, this amount should at least no longer increase. The settlement with the Czechs will cost the Polish government another 45 million euros. As soon as these have been transferred, the Czech Republic intends to withdraw its complaint before the European Court of Justice – it is “a matter of hours,” said the Prime Ministers at their meeting in Prague. Poland is now allowed to continue mining lignite, but must ensure that the local residents do not siphon off even more groundwater.
The EU remains skeptical: It is said that they do not react to mere announcements
The Czech Greenpeace section called the agreement “scandalous”, the agreements on environmental protection were completely inadequate, and an end to the opencast mine had not been agreed. The operator wants to mine coal by 2044. In addition, you can hardly trust a state that constantly breaks EU rules. A distrust that Prime Minister Morawiecki promoted on the same day by declaring that Poland would still not pay the fines to the EU in the Turów case and would take legal action against the decision of the ECJ.
Both in Brussels and in Poland, President Duda’s announcement that the Disciplinary Chamber would be dissolved was met with skepticism. The chamber undermines the independence of the judiciary and is therefore considered unlawful by the EU. He wants to submit a draft law to abolish the disciplinary chamber to the parliamentary presidency, Duda said in a public statement on Thursday. This should give the Polish government a handle “to end the dispute with the European Commission,” according to the President’s website.
Duda just wants to “appease and confuse” the EU, comments the left-liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza. The president is “naive” when he believes that “nobody in Brussels notices the manipulation in their project”. Government critics say Duda’s proposal for judicial reform is inadequate. Some members of the government also find his ideas confusing. Marcin Warchoł, deputy justice minister, said Duda’s proposal “does not solve the problems with the EU”. The reshuffle of judges planned by Duda led to “anarchy”. An employee of Warchoł’s from the Ministry of Justice also stated that Duda’s draft contradicted the decision of the Polish Constitutional Court not to recognize EU law as superior to Polish law. “The president, as guardian of the constitution, should not propose any solutions that violate the Polish constitution,” the newspaper quotes Rzeczpospolita him.
In Brussels, people are unimpressed by Duda’s statements: “We don’t react to mere announcements,” said a spokesman for the EU Commission on Thursday. The Green MEP Daniel Freund explained that the abolition of the disciplinary chamber alone would not be enough anyway: “Duda knows that Poland can only get the EU billions if the rule of law works again.” The EU Commission must “insist on the full implementation of the ECJ rulings”.