Poland takes first step to withdraw Article 7 procedure

Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar presented EU ministers with an action plan to restore the country’s rule of law, which EU Commissioner Věra Jourová described as a first step for the Commission to withdraw the Article 7 procedure against Warsaw.

The plan, which includes nine bills aimed at restoring the rule of law in the country following the rule of the Law and Justice (PiS, ECR) party, was welcomed by both the Commission and the other EU countries.

“I am very grateful to the member states for the trust,” Bodnar said. He added that the ministers pointed to the need for the Polish government to implement a comprehensive judicial reform per the bloc’s law.

“Not to cut corners, but to try to obtain the broadest possible consensus (in Poland for the reforms,” he added.

Poland, along with Hungary, was the first country to be subject to an Article 7 procedure, known as the ‘nuclear option’, due to serious concerns about the rule of law in the country. The procedure against Poland began in 2017.

The PiS government, which was replaced in power in Poland last December by a broad coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, had previously had strained relations with the Commission over controversial changes to the judiciary, which the EU executive said undermined judicial independence in the country.

When he returned to power, Tusk’s government promised to restore democratic order in Poland, including in the judiciary – and to release recovery funds for Poland that had been frozen because of concerns about the rule of law.

Bodnar has previously said he would like the Article 7 procedure to be over before Poland’s twentieth anniversary of EU membership in May. Asked now if he would stick to that date, he confirmed that he would do everything to keep to it.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)