The European Commission’s decision to green-light the Polish Recovery Plan on 1 June has prompted an angry backlash from the European Parliament, with MEPs passing a resolution on Thursday demanding that ministers block the approval of €35.4 billion of EU grants and loans to Warsaw.
MEPs believe that the criteria outlined by the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Tuesday’s debate in Strasbourg, are not enough to proceed with the disbursement.
The Commission president told MEPs that she sees a “clear commitment by the Polish government on the independence of the judiciary”.
She added that no payments will be made if the Polish government does not replace its controversial Disciplinary Chamber with “an independent and impartial court established by law,”.
Among points the Commission requested there are the removal of “controversial disciplinary offences” and the review of judges’ cases “affected by the rulings of the Disciplinary Chamber,”.
In the meantime, “agreeing to Poland’s recovery plan does not stop any of the other procedures concerning the rule of law enforcement.” said the Commission president.
However, EU lawmakers do not see improvements in compliance on the rule of law, stating that “several judges are still facing disciplinary procedures and/or have not been reinstated” and that a ruling by the EU Court of Justice has not yet been applied.
Lawmakers Siegfried Mureşan (EPP), Iratxe García Pérez (S&D) and Stéphane Séjourné (Renew) on behalf of their groups, emphasised that the supremacy of the EU Court of Justice must be respected before the funds are released.
Damian Boeselager (Greens/EFA) went further, underlining the necessity of ensuring that European national governments “do not approve the Polish recovery plan until the judgments of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights are implemented.”
Boeselager added that “we will use all tools available to us” – including requesting the Commission’s resignation – to ensure that the plans are not approved “without real reforms [in Poland] taking place”.
However, the European Conservatives and Reformists and Identity and Democracy parliamentary groups both backed the disbursement of EU funds to Poland.
The Parliament has long demanded rule of law reforms to be a condition for the approval of the EU’s national recovery plans.
In a regulation, approved in February 2021, respect for the rule of law was among the criteria outlined for the disbursement of funds.
In an effort to reconcile tensions between Brussels and Warsaw, in October 2021 the Commission modified its position, backing off on some demands of the Polish government in order to focus on its demand to abolish the country’s Disciplinary Chamber.
At the time, EU lawmakers expressed their opposition to the softer stance, with MEPs asking the Commission to refrain from approving the plans until the initial conditions were reached, in a letter seen by EURACTIV.
“Polish courts of all instances have demonstrated that they cannot ensure the right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law, as recognised also by the Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights,” they wrote.
EU Parliament pressures Commission to block Poland’s recovery plan
In October, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlined a compromise for de-escalating a rule of law crisis with Poland and unlocking up to €36 billion in recovery funding for Polish citizens.
However, the EU Parliament shares a different view. …
Motion of no confidence debate
A motion of no confidence proposal was launched early this week by Renew group vice-president Luis Garciano, Dutch MEP Sophie in’t Veld, and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
The motion of no confidence is a rarely used measure that the European Parliament can use to ask for the resignation of the entire European Commission. For a vote of no-confidence to be successful, at least two-thirds of MEPs must vote in favour.
Despite the Parliament’s opposition to the EU’s stance on Poland, only a small number of MEPs endorse such a motion, while the political group presidents have declared themselves against the motion.
Even within the Renew group itself, there is no consensus on the issue.
Liberal Renew opposes a no-confidence vote against von der Leyen
More than two-thirds of European lawmakers from the liberal Renew Europe group do not support the proposed vote of no-confidence against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, sources close to parliamentary group leadership told EURACTIV France.
Three figures from the …
The European Council has yet to announce its position on the move and informed the plenary that the Polish plan will be examined.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald and Benjamin Fox]
Source: euractiv.com
