On Wednesday 26 July, the European Commission will discuss action to be taken on the issue of the rule of law in Poland and, in particular, whether to send a third recommendation to the Polish government, in the wake of the country’s president, Andrzej Duda, vetoing two controversial laws – indeed, the two considered to be the most problematic – on Monday.
Last week, Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said that the College of Commissioners would send a third recommendation to the government of Beata Szydło under the rule of law mechanism launched in January 2016 (see EUROPE 11833). The Commission has also said that it was considering opening one or two infringement proceedings, notably on the retirement age for judges. Timmermans also threatened to trigger Article 7 of the Treaty, which can, ultimately, lead to suspension of a member state’s voting rights in the Council of the EU.
On Monday morning, however, after the demonstrations that have been held in Poland over recent days, the country’s president announced in a televised speech that he was vetoing the laws on the supreme court and on the national judiciary council. However, he signed the law reorganising Poland’s local judiciary which allows the justice minister to select the heads of the local courts without having to give any reasons.
Duda, a former member of the governing PiS party, said that the Polish judicial system needed reform but “intelligent” reform and he returned the two texts to parliament to be re-written.
Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas declined at this stage to say if this was a positive move, returning the issue to the general discussion that the College will hold on Wednesday. Whether Timmermans’ comments or, indeed, the request by European Council President Donald Tusk for an urgent meeting with Duda, had any effect on the president’s decision remains to be shown.
At the start of March, Szydło’s Polish government was the only one to oppose Tusk’s re-appointment (see EUROPE 11742).
Schinas said on Monday that the offer of dialogue made by Timmermans’ to the Polish foreign affairs and justice ministers remained on the table but had not, for the moment, been taken up.
The Polish political opposition welcomed the announcement of the presidential veto. “This is without doubt a step in the right direction” and it is “proof that people power is effective”, Liberal party MP Nowoczesna Kamila Pihowicz-Gasiuk is quoted by AFP as saying. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)