One million euros per day in fines, that what the European Court of Justice has decided is a proper punishment for Poland. The reason for the ruling was that the government in Warsaw refused to implement decisions by the EU’s highest court on controversial judicial reforms. This mainly concerns a disciplinary chamber that, for years, has reprimanded or removed judges and prosecutors that the government finds disagreeable.
According to European Court of Justice rulings, the activities of this politically dependent body are not compatible with European rules on the independence and impartiality of a judiciary. Compliance with the July 14 order is necessary to prevent “serious and irreparable damage” to the legal order of the European Union and the values on which that Union is based”, the court’s vice-president said.
The penalty payment is intended to ensure that Poland does not delay compliance. So far, the Polish government has always refused to comply with the findings of the EU’s highest court on judicial reform.
The ECJ had ruled in mid-July that Poland violated European law with the disciplinary chamber. In addition, the country was ordered with an interim injunction to suspend the provisions authorising the Disciplinary Chamber to decide on applications for the waiver of judicial immunity, as well as on questions concerning the employment and retirement of judges. The decision also concerned other provisions of Polish law relating to the independence of judges.
Poland then announced that the controversial disciplinary chamber would be abolished in its current form. However, it continued to work on old cases. The chamber was previously considered the centrepiece of the judicial reforms initiated by the PiS government. The chamber can dismiss any judge or prosecutor. Critics fear that it could be used to reprimand judges for unpopular decisions.
For the time being, Poland’s right-wing government has shown no willingness to relent. Prime Minister Mateusz Mazowiecki spoke of a “Third World War” that the EU had declared on Poland. Poland’s Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro flatly refused to pay the penalty that has been imposed by the EU judiciary.
“Poland cannot and should not pay even a single zloty (the national currency),” Ziobro told journalists. His country should also “not submit to lawlessness”, whether it is regarding the case of lignite mining in the Turow open-cast mine, or in the dispute concerning the restructuring of the Polish judiciary, should the penalty money be paid.
In September, Poland was ordered to make daily payments of half a million euros for not ending its mining of lignite in Turow, which is on the border with the Czech Republic, as it was in contravention of a temporary injunction.
The Polish government’s conflict with the European Commission had already reached a climax in September. The Polish Constitutional Court, dominated by Supreme Court judges appointed by the PiS government, ruled against the primacy of EU law in a dispute over whether Brussels’ legal statutes were superior to Polish national law. Articles 1 and 19 of the EU Treaty directly contradict the legal system in Poland. The first article of the EU Treaty sets the goal of an “ever closer union”. Article 19 states that “the Council, acting unanimously, may take appropriate actions to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.”
Article 19 allows the EU judiciary to take action against discrimination against persons of the LGTB community as enshrined in recent laws in Poland. For example, several Polish municipalities have established so-called “LGTB-free zones”. As a result, the Commission stopped subsidies to the regions and municipalities concerned.
The Polish government has since been threatened with further financial penalties: Financial aid within the framework of the Corona aid fund for economic recovery is to be withheld as long as Poland violates the fundamental values of the EU. Poland’s head of government, Mateusz Morawiecki, called this “blackmail” and spoke about his government being “pistol-whipped” by the EU’s institutions.
At the European Parliament session mid-October, Morawiecki tried to portray the attacks by the EU Commission and the EU High Court as inadmissible interference in the sovereignty of a member of the EU, adding that the EU was in the process of setting itself against its members with illegal regulations.
Austrian Vice-President of the European Parliament, Othmar Karas, had repeatedly called for measures against Poland: “What is always forgotten is that the European Constitutional Treaty, the Lisbon Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which guarantee freedom and citizens’ rights, are national constitutional law. They were unanimously adopted by all member states and the EU Parliament, and they have been ratified by all national parliaments.
The court that ruled in Poland is de facto a court hand-picked by politicians, which has been ruled illegal by the European Court of Human Rights. Hence the calls to Poland that we can only pay out money if the independence of the judiciary, and that of the media, is ensured and that taxpayers’ money is used according to the EU’s sense.”
Poland’s government may have overstepped the mark this time. This time, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has usually been measured in her opinions about legal actions against Poland, this time also threatened punitive measures, a move that France and the Netherlands have welcomed.
The dynamics in Poland
Poland’s government has made a fundamental policy mistake in that did not prepare an exit strategy. In order to avoid a cut in payments from the EU budget, the only countermeasure that really remains is an exit from Europe. Poland is the largest net recipient in the EU, receiving €12 billion from Brussels, annually. That is €311 euros capita and 3.30 percent of its GDP.
The power struggle between Poland and the European Commission is crucial for the future of the EU. If the Polish government were to prevail with its stance, each member of the EU would be able to choose areas that are no longer subject to European law. The single area of justice, which is indispensable above all for businesses, must be resolutely defended by the Commission.
Poland’s strongman, Law and Justice (PiS) party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has announced that the controversial disciplinary chamber would be dissolved. But Justice Minister Ziobro continued to resist orders from Brussels. Now the EU tax meter is ticking at one million euro per day. That is a lot of money even for a big country like Poland.
