On Wednesday 22 February, the First Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, asked the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU to include the question of Poland's failure to abide by the principles of the rule of law on the agenda of the meeting of the 'General Affairs' Council of 7 March.
On Wednesday 22 February, the European Commissioners briefly debated the situation of the rule of law proceedings open against Poland, after Timmermans informed his colleagues that Warsaw had responded to the recommendations of 21 December (see EUROPE 11730).
This response, which was submitted by the Polish authorities on Monday, was written in Polish. It will take a bit longer to formulate a response, the European institution explained in justification of the fact that no decision was made on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Polish Foreign Minister, Witold Waszczykowski said that as far as Warsaw was concerned, the case was closed (see EUROPE 11729). He went on to accuse Timmermans of acting on the grounds of hidden political motivations. However, Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas stressed that the Commission acts without distinction and is politically neutral when it comes to enforcing the rule of law in the European Union.
Timmermans' request to the Maltese Presidency was revealed by a Polish radio station. According to our information, the matter is to be brought before the 'General Affairs' Council of 7 March. The Maltese Presidency has not confirmed this information, stating that it has not yet received a formal request.
At this stage, the aim is not to launch the article 7 procedure, which may lead to the suspension of the voting rights of a member state at the Council. Instead, Timmermans is reported to be calling for the member states to debate the situation in Poland, as he suggested at the end of last week when he called on the 27 other member states to show a common front on the matter (see EUROPE 11730). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Jan Kordys)