The European Parliament has referred the European Commission to the European Court of Justice. Parliament wants the committee to actually use the resources it has to force Poland to respect the rule of law.
Parliament is concerned with the so-called ‘rule of law mechanism’. This is the option to suspend payment of European money to a Member State if the rule of law is threatened there.
There are great concerns in the parliament about Poland, which has still not lifted the controversial disciplinary chamber of the Constitutional Court, as requested by Brussels. There are also great concerns in parliament about a judgment of that Polish Court in which Polish law is placed above European law. This is contrary to the conditions under which a country can be a member of the European Union.
Actions rather than words
“We expect the European Commission to be consistent and to do what Commission President von der Leyen has said in our Parliament about this,” said the President of the European Parliament. “Words must be turned into deeds”.
During a debate in parliament, harsh words were spoken against Poland by the European Commission. The Commission and Poland are engaged in a bitter struggle.
In this battle, Poland, together with Hungary, has asked the European Court of Justice to test whether the ‘rule of law mechanism’ is legally tenable. A verdict in that case is expected around the turn of the year. The committee wants to await that ruling before applying the mechanism.
Not admissible
But the parliament does not want to wait for that and demands that the committee start applying the mechanism now. The legal service of the parliament previously warned that the European Court can also determine that it must first find something about the legal validity of the mechanism, before it can deal with a claim for its deployment. In that case, the Court could rule that the parliament is inadmissible, and so there will be no trial.
Difficult parquet
Going to court in any case puts the committee in a difficult position. In the search for a solution to the conflict with Poland, the parliament is calling for tough action, while the heads of government of the member states called for caution last week. Under the leadership of Germany, there was a call to maintain talks with Poland in particular.
Meanwhile, emotions are still rising. Poland called on the Belgian ambassador in Warsaw today after Belgian Prime Minister De Croo addressed Poland this week for undermining the rule of law.
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