Poland’s nationalist government risks daily fines for flouting a European court order, after EU authorities in Brussels urged financial penalties over what are seen as threats to judicial independence.
The European Commission called on the European court of justice (ECJ) to hit the Polish government with daily fines “to ensure compliance”, in a move hailed as a watershed moment in the struggle over the rule of law in the central European country.
It said the Polish government had failed to comply with a court order to overhaul a disciplinary tribunal for judges deemed to compromise judicial independence.
After a fast-track complaint, the European court ordered Poland on 14 July to suspend large parts of its disciplinary system for judges, including powers to sanction judges for their judgements, an arrangement said to undermine their independence. In mid August, Poland promised to disband the chamber, but the commission said it continued to function.
“The disciplinary chamber is continuing some of its activities against judges, even though all those activities were supposed to be fully suspended,” said the European Commission vice-president, Věra Jourová. “The rulings of the European court of justice must be respected across the EU. This is a must to build and nurture the necessary trust between member states and citizens alike.”
She added that the commission remained “ready to work with Polish authorities to find solutions”.
The commission has not proposed an amount for the fines, which are meant to discourage the government to change course as fast as possible. In a similar case in 2017, Poland’s government was threatened with fines of €100,000 a day for illegal logging of the ancient Białowieża forest.
In a separate decision, the commission announced it was launching legal action against Poland for failing to comply with the ECJ ruling.
Critics of the EU’s approach said the commission was taking belated tough action to defend the rule of law.
“This is a watershed moment,” said Jakub Jaraczewski, an analyst at the non-governmental organisation Democracy Reporting International. “Faced with the rule of law crisis in Poland, the European Commission was seen as not decisive and strong enough.”
“The commission is finally stepping up its game and showing some sharp teeth, and it’s doing that at a very fortunate moment – when Poland is seeking all the money it can get to get the economy rolling following the pandemic slowdown.”
EU authorities have delayed approval of Covid recovery funds for Poland and Hungary over concerns of weak systems for controlling EU funds.
Poland has been on a collision course with the EU since the nationalist Law and Justice party came to power in 2015 and pushed through massive changes to the judicial system. Warsaw is battling Brussels on a range of fronts including LGBTQ+ rights, but the current dispute dates from April 2020, when the commission took action against further changes to the judicial system widely seen to undermine judicial independence.
The Polish government has rejected the charges, most recently in a defiant Facebook post by the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki. “Nobody will teach us what democracy and rule of law are because Poland has a very long and noble history of fighting against all kinds of totalitarianism and despots,” he wrote.
