Poland is playing appeasement. For several weeks, the country has been engaged in a standoff with the European Union over judicial reform. Poland hopes to eliminate corruption from its judiciary, in particular with a new system of appointment, transfer and discipline of judges. According to Brussels, these reforms introduced by the nationalist conservative party in power Law and Justice (PiS) threaten democracy and the rule of law.
The Polish Constitutional Court, the highest court in the country, replied yesterday by declaring that certain articles of the Treaty of the European Union were “incompatible” with the Polish Constitution and ordered the European institutions not to “act beyond the scope of their skills ”. In other words, thank you for not interfering with our legal system.
Towards a Polexit?
In Brussels, Jeroen Lenaers, a spokesperson for the European People’s Party, said: “Enough is enough. It is an attack on the EU as a whole. Demonstrations erupted in Poland, accusing the ruling power of following the path of Belarus. “It’s a scandal (…) They are taking us out of the European Union! », Regretted Anna Labus, a pensioner, bursting into tears.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki ruled out this possibility. “Poland’s place is and will be in the European family of nations,” he said on Facebook, adding that membership in this organization was “one of the strengths of the past decades” for Poland and the EU. More than 80% of Poles support membership of the EU, which has given their country billions of euros in grants since 2004.
The fear of a Polexit had increased since the statements of Ryszard Terlecki, the vice-president of the Parliament. He recalled in particular that “the British have shown that the dictatorship of the Brussels bureaucracy does not suit them. They turned around and left ”. Calm is still far from being restored, however. Due to this conflict, the European Union has still not approved the 23 billion euros in grants and the 34 billion euros in cheap loans planned for this country.