Polish President Seeks to End EU Rule-of-Law Spat With New Bill - Bloomberg
Polish President Andrzej Duda will propose a bill to scrap a controversial mechanism that disciplines judges in an attempt to end the country’s rule-of-law row with the European Union.
The move comes amid an impasse in governments talks over how to resolve its escalating dispute with Brussels over democratic backsliding. The standoff has already cost Poland billions of euros in funds withheld from the bloc’s pandemic stimulus program and subjected it to daily fines.
“I want to give the government a tool to end the dispute with the European Commission,” Duda said in a statement to reporters in Warsaw on Thursday. “This dispute is not what Poland needs right now.”
The announcement of the proposal boosted the zloty. But it wasn’t immediately clear whether the government will have enough support in parliament to adopt the bill, which proposes replacing a disciplinary chamber that the EU’s top court has ruled is illegal with a panel of 11 judges.
Previous government proposals on how to scrap the mechanism failed due to disagreements withing the ruling coalition, where Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro has taken an increasingly confrontational stance toward the EU.
It may also not be enough to convince the EU’s executive to unblock Poland’s request for 36 billion euros ($40.6 billion) from the post-pandemic recovery fund. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen set out three conditions for releasing the funds, including restoring judges who lost their jobs as a result of disciplinary procedures.
The Commission’s spokesman said on Thursday that the EU executive needs to see the proposal first.
“We react on our analysis of actual texts,” Eric Mamer told reporters in Brussels. “It’s too early to react.”
Still, the move could mark a pivot in Poland’s increasingly fraught relations with the EU. The bloc’s top court hit Poland in October with a record 1 million-euro daily fine over the governments sweeping judicial reforms, prompting accusations of “blackmail” from Warsaw.
— With assistance by Dorota Bartyzel, and Stephanie Bodoni
source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-03/polish-president-proposes-bill-to-end-rule-of-law-row-with-eu
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