Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will speak to members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg this Wednesday. The controversial Polish judicial reform is on the agenda. Morawiecki wants to take a position on this.
The highest Polish judges recently ruled that parts of EU law were incompatible with the Polish constitution. This is considered problematic, as it gives Poland an opportunity to ignore unpleasant judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Poland has long been accused by the EU Commission and member states of violating democratic rights and community rules.
The dispute over the Polish judicial reform had recently escalated. The chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, calls for consequences for the member state. “The European Union has the possibility of stopping funds if the independence of the judiciary is not guaranteed. And that is what we expect from the Commission,” said the CSU politician on Tuesday in the ZDF morning magazine. It is also clear that the heads of state and government have to sit down at a table and speak plain language, also to Poland.
At present, Parliament is also threatening to sue the EU Commission before the European Court of Justice because it has not yet applied a new regulation to punish violations of the rule of law in EU countries. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had already threatened Poland with sanctions. “We will use all the powers that the Treaties give us to enforce this principle,” she said last Wednesday. The EU is a community of values and rights.
In Warsaw, the national-conservative PiS party is currently leading the government. In a letter to the EU heads of state and government, Prime Minister Morawiecki complained that the EU was gradually transforming into an entity that was no longer an alliance of free, equal and sovereign states. Instead, the EU will become a centrally managed body run by institutions without democratic control. At the same time he had assured that Poland would remain a loyal member of the European Union.
How the conflict could be resolved is completely unclear. From the point of view of countries like Luxembourg or the Netherlands, Poland should actually leave the EU if it does not want to fully comply with Community law. However, Morawiecki recently emphasized that such a step by his country is not up for debate. A large part of the population also rates EU membership positively.