EU ends case against Poland after Tusk acts on judiciary
The European Commission has said it will end a sanctions procedure against Poland after a promise from Donald Tusk’s government to restore the independence of the judiciary.
In an announcement yesterday, the EU executive said it no longer saw “a clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law in Poland” and planned to withdraw the article 7 sanctions procedure that could have led to Warsaw being stripped of EU voting rights.
“Today marks a new chapter for Poland,” the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a statement that congratulated Tusk and his government “on this important breakthrough”. She added: “The ongoing restoration of the rule of law in Poland is great for the Polish people and for our union as a whole.”
Tusk took office in October. In February his government published an action plan aimed at restoring the independence of the judiciary and ending numerous conflicts with the commission and the European court of justice.
Members of Poland’s national council of the judiciary will be elected by their peers in a secret ballot to end the influence of politicians, measures will be taken to enshrine the independence of the supreme court, and judges will no longer face disciplinary action for following EU law.
Yesterday the commission said the steps taken by Poland to implement that plan indicated that the rule of law was no longer threatened. Poland’s decision to join the European public prosecutor’s office, an EU body to investigate cross-border fraud, also weighed in its favour.
“Great news from Brussels today! Thank you President @vonderleyen for the cooperation and support,” Poland’s justice minister, Adam Bodnar, wrote on X. “We are determined and devoted to our common European values.”
The EU’s 26 other member states will have the chance to make “observations” before the commission formally withdraws the sanctions procedure against Poland.
The article 7 process against Poland was launched in 2017 after the hardright nationalist government of the Law and Justice party began overhauling the court system to increase its control over the judiciary.