Poland ordered to pay EU 1 million a day – The HuffPost

Ints Kalnins / Reuters

EUROPEAN UNION – A shocking decision. Poland was ordered on Wednesday October 27 to pay the EU a fine of one million euros per day for not having put an end to the activities of the disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court, a key institution controversial reform of the Polish judicial system, announced the European justice.

This financial sanction was requested on September 7 by the European Commission, to which this sum must be paid. The decision is part of heavy litigation between Brussels and Poland on the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.

An institution that is controversial

The head of the Polish nationalist conservative government, Mateusz Morawiecki, has pledged to abolish the disciplinary chamber, the abolition of which had already been announced in August by Warsaw but which continues to function. This body is accused by Brussels of undermining the autonomy of magistrates.

On July 14, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ordered Poland to immediately stop the activities of this chamber. This decision not having been respected, the European executive had asked the CJEU to impose sanctions, believing that “the judicial systems of the EU must be independent and fair”.

“Compliance with the provisional measures ordered on July 14 is necessary in order to avoid serious and irreparable damage to the legal order of the European Union as well as to the values ​​on which this Union is founded, in particular that of the State of right, ”said the CJEU, based in Luxembourg, on Wednesday.

A conflict that drags on

This lack of independence of the Polish judiciary and the primacy of European law over national law was one of the dominant topics of the European summit of the Twenty-Seven at the end of last week.

Warsaw is in conflict with Brussels for several years regarding the judicial reforms undertaken by the ruling Nationalist Conservative Party (PiS), accused of undermining the independence of judges.

Tensions have increased since a ruling on October 7 by the Polish Constitutional Court, which declared certain articles of European treaties incompatible with the national constitution. A decision denounced by Brussels as an unprecedented attack on the primacy of European law and the jurisdiction of the CJEU.

See also on the HuffPost: Against a “Polexit”, tens of thousands of Poles marched in the streets