On Wednesday 21 December, the College of Commissioners will discuss the rule of law situation in Poland and what to do next following the rejection by the Polish government of the formal recommendations submitted to it by the European Commission (see EUROPE 11657).
The discussion will be held by request of the President, Jean-Claude Juncker, a spokesperson for the institution, Mina Andreeva, announced on Monday. This decision has been made in particular due to the events of the weekend, which confirmed the urgent need to discuss the situation in Poland at the highest level.
On Saturday, several thousand people assembled outside the presidential palace in Warsaw to defend the freedom of the press, which, in the view of the demonstrators, is under threat from the authorities by a regulation limiting access of the media to Parliament. The protesters also hit out against the alleged fraud in Parliament during voting on 16 December. On that day, protesters blocked the exit of the Parliament buildings to government officials.
On Monday, the European Commission did not clarify its intentions and, in particular, the possibility of triggering article 7 of the Treaty of the EU against Poland, which may lead to a country's voting rights at the Council being suspended. There are a number of steps before a starting this "nuclear" option, the institution pointed out. The College will discuss how to respond to the situation, with the Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, who is in charge of the dossier, having recently stated that dialogue with Warsaw had led nowhere (see EUROPE 11690). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)