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Polish arguments that fundamental judicial changes the country has made would not undermine the European Union on Friday failed to convince key bloc leaders who said that the withholding of billions in EU recovery funds would likely continue unless Warsaw falls back into line.
At the end of a two-day EU summit dominated by the standoff over core values like judicial independence and the primacy of EU law in member states, a large majority of leaders insisted that preparations for sanctions against Poland needed to continue apace.
“No European country can call itself European if it’s judges are not independent,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
And when Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki sowed the seeds of doubt that EU law should take a backseat to national rules, many leaders insisted that the EU’s executive arm had not choice but to move against Poland over the rule of law dispute.
“There are no alternatives. The laws are clear,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said. “The treaty … the basis of the union, was put into question. It’s clear the Commission cannot not go forward.”
EU nations have warned for years over what they see as a backsliding of democratic principles in Poland when it comes to an independent judiciary and free media. They said Morawiecki’s nationalist government stacked the constitutional court with handpicked judges and then had the same court challenge the supremacy of EU law.
Important discussion on rule of law and judicial independence in Poland.
The rule of law ensures mutual trust, legal certainty and equality between Member States and citizens.
A fundamental pillar of the rule of law is judicial independence.
This was the core of our discussion pic.twitter.com/XW2kiiMdTt
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) October 22, 2021
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Source : france24
