LPresident von der Leyen should be warmly welcomed in Warsaw on Thursday 2 June. In her luggage, the German brings good news to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki: the positive opinion of the Polish recovery plan given the day before by the European Commission. Ultimately, 23.9 billion euros in subsidies and 11.5 billion euros in loans will fall into the hands of the Poles provided that the Council, now seized, validates the Commission’s position. In other words, the ultra-conservative PiS regime is currently cashing in on a symbolic victory, but not yet the European funds.
The decision of the college of commissioners immediately created controversy. First, internally. The two vice-presidents, the Dutchman Frans Timmermans (Labour), and the Dane Margrethe Vestager (Liberal) called for the decision to be put to a vote. Which is rare, the college having only voted three times since 2019. Both voted “no”, but they found themselves isolated. None of the socialist or liberal commissioners followed them in what appears to be a revolt directed against Ursula von der Leyen. Thierry Breton took the floor to express his support for the positive opinion by expressing, as it should, the necessary reservations, Poland having to comply effectively with the rule of law. Commissioner Reynders, detained in the United States, had sent a letter to the college, also expressing his reservations, but in the end he did indeed support the positive opinion.
Admittedly, Poland has removed the disciplinary chamber from the Supreme Court, as Morawiecki promised, but the new law is not very satisfactory either…” The approval of this plan is linked to clear commitments on the part of Poland concerning the independence of the judiciary, which will have to be respected before an effective payment can be made, assured the President of the Commission. I look forward to the implementation of these reforms. »
Timmermans threatens to put on the “boxing gloves”
Frans Timmermans took it very badly to have been outvoted. Taking advantage of the various issues discussed during this college, he attacked President von der Leyen head-on about her remarks made that very morning (Wednesday) at the EPP congress in Rotterdam. In essence, he reproached her for having pulled the cover on the climate package (the subject for which Timmermans is responsible), for behaving as an EPP leader rather than an impartial president. “I’m a politician and I can get back in the ring putting on the gloves,” he threatened. “I too am a politician and I can also put them on,” she replied in an atmosphere to cut with a knife.
Commissioner Gentiloni, a Social Democrat, joined in the dispute by reminding Timmermans and Vestager that the title of “Vice-President” confers no rights, that it does not exist in the treaties which recognize only a single authority within the college, that of the President of the Commission. The friction of egos of which the Polish affair seems only a pretext undoubtedly announces the clashes of tomorrow when, in 2024, the presidency of the Commission will be again at stake. Remember that Timmermans like Vestager were candidates in 2019…
President Duda on the move
Outside, the decision of the college of commissioners also goes badly. On behalf of the Renew group, MEP Fabienne Keller protests against this decision. In just a few years, the power in place has dismantled the judiciary, taken control of the main judicial organs and banished “uncooperative” judges, she recalls. Poland does not respect the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Freedom of the press is gradually being challenged by the control of the media. I am deeply concerned about the repercussions such a decision will have on respect for our freedoms and the foundations of our democracy. »
Polish President Andrzej Duda has been negotiating for several months with Ursula von der Leyen to improve the Polish judicial system in a very difficult political context. The Minister of Justice, Zbigniew Ziobro, Europhobe in the first degree, at the head of a small party (Poland Solidarity) allied to the PiS, had to be absolutely circumvented. Duda was therefore looking for a majority in the Polish Parliament by supplementing it with support from the opposition… The Polish government majority is only due to one vote. This is President Duda’s balancing act.
The battle for the “impartiality test” of judges
The bill launched by Duda was for the liquidation of the disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court. As the text currently stands, the (partial) judges who currently sit on it will have the option of changing chambers or retiring. A new “professional responsibility chamber” would be created within the Supreme Court. The 33 candidates for the positions of judge in the chamber of professional responsibility would be chosen from among judges with at least 7 years of exercise of judicial functions in the Supreme Court. There was a whole struggle of parliamentary amendments to find out if it was possible for each litigant to pass an “impartiality test” to a judge for a judgment already rendered…
The great Polish obsession consists, in fact, in tracking down the “Communist judge” whose judgments would be tainted with impartiality. The Polish Senate has voted for an amendment which would deprive of legal effect all the judgments rendered by the previous disciplinary chamber. Judges suspended by this chamber would be reinstated and could not be transferred to another chamber for the next three years without their consent.
Rehabilitated Poland further isolates Hungary from Orban
A signal deemed sufficiently positive by the Brussels Commission to give the green light to the Polish recovery plan. However, the European Commissioners have set conditions for the disbursement of the funds to avoid any backtracking. Thus, the Commission will verify that new disciplinary cases concerning judges respect the canons of law and the case law of the Court of Justice, that Polish judges cannot be prosecuted for having referred a question to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling, that the rights of the defense are strengthened and that past disciplinary decisions can be reviewed, if necessary, by a truly impartial tribunal. The sanctioned Polish judges will not be reinstated automatically but may, at their request, be retried by the independent tribunal which will emerge from the judicial reform in progress.
Not only did President Duda make efforts for this rapprochement with the EU, but the context of the war in Ukraine and the exemplary behavior of the Poles vis-à-vis the Ukrainians undoubtedly played a role in the pacification of relations between Brussels and Warsaw. In addition, the diplomatic divorce between the Poles and the Hungarians opens a path which may prove fatal to Viktor Orban. Deprived of his Polish ally, the Hungarian Prime Minister could possibly lose his protection and expose himself to the sanctions of article 7 (suspension of voting rights). Indeed, with the rule of unanimity, Poland and Hungary protected each other. Without Poland, Hungary is exposed.
And Viktor Orban did not arrange his affairs either by dragging out the 6e sanctions package (Russian oil embargo) for more than three weeks. His European counterparts had all the trouble in the world to wrest his approval, Monday evening, during the European Council in exchange for an exemption from which Hungary will benefit for a few more months (or more). But the sanctions package still comes up against Hungary’s final refusal to include Patriarch Kirill in the list of 80 new personalities sanctioned. The Coreper (meeting of EU ambassadors) which was to legally formalize the package of sanctions validated by the European Council could not succeed on Wednesday. A new Coreper meeting is scheduled for Thursday 2 June to lift this final blockage…
