By late afternoon on Thursday 27 October, Poland had still not submitted its response to the recommendations of the European Commission that were made on 27 July under the rule of law monitoring mechanism.
On 27 July, the Commission decided to ask Warsaw for specific explanations regarding its controversial reforms of the Constitutional Tribunal, thereby triggering the second phase of the so-called "rule of law" mechanism. First Vice-President of the Commission Frans Timmermans explained that the rule of law is a pillar of the EU that is important to everyone and the citizens in particular, as they know that they will be protected by independent courts. Following the first phase, of structured dialogue, the Commission said that it still had concerns over the functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal and spoke of a systemic risk of infringements of the rule of law.
The fact that the Constitutional Tribunal is prevented from fully carrying out effective constitutional controls, which is one of the vital checks and balances of the rule of law in Poland, harms its integrity, stability and proper functioning, the Commission added. The Polish government was therefore called upon to undertake a series of modifications (see EUROPE 11602).
On Thursday 27 October, the European Commission said that Warsaw still had until the end of the day to comply with the deadline laid down. If the Polish authorities should fail to send in their response, the mechanism could theoretically start its third phase, with the possibility of recourse to Article 7 of the Treaty, suspending a country's voting rights in the Council. According to the Commission, it is verifying the response the member state has made to its recommendation. If there is no satisfactory outcome to the issue within the stated deadline, it is possible to make use of the 'Article 7 procedure', which may be triggered by a reasoned proposal from a third of the member states, the European Parliament or the Commission, the institution explained.
On the same day, a spokesperson for the institution said that there was no call to speculate on this next stage and said that the Polish authorities' response would be looked into by the commissioners in order to determine the next steps. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)