Brussels, 07/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - During a visit to the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU in Amsterdam on Thursday 7 January, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said that he was confident that his institution and Poland would find a solution to the controversy over the new Polish law on the media, which was enacted that day.
“I don't think that we will go as far as activating” article 7 of the Treaty of the EU, which consists of suspending the voting rights of a country at the Council of the EU, the European official commented during a press conference. “We are at the beginning of the procedure set in place in 2014”, Juncker explained, referring to the so-called 'rule of law mechanism' procedure, which consists of offering an alternative to article 7. The President hopes not to “over-dramatise the issue; our approach is constructive, we are not singling Poland out”.
At this stage, however, Juncker's spokespersons have stated that this 'rule of law' procedure had not been formally launched and that the College of Commissioners will, at this stage, simply hold a guideline debate on the situation in Poland on 13 January.
Frans Timmermans and a number of his colleagues, in particular those in charge of the digital single market and justice, sent two letters to the Polish government in late December, but they have yet to receive a response from the authorities. President Juncker said that he was confident that the Polish government would explain its thinking.
Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said that the setting in place of this 'rule of law' mechanism, of which Timmermans, then home affairs minister, was one of the architects in 2013, was “a good thing” and would allow the Polish government to explain the situation in the country. However, the Prime Minister declined to comment on the actions of the government.
On Thursday, the highly controversial law on the media was enacted. It aims to ensure that the “public media are impartial, objective and credible”, explained government spokesperson Malgorzata Sadurska, quoted by AFP. The new provisions will end, with immediate effect, the mandates of the members of the boards of directors and supervisory boards of all public television and radio channels and the Ministry of the Treasury will henceforth be responsible for appointing and dismissing the new heads of the public media, who were previously recruited by competitions organised by the National Audiovisual Council. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)