There is still "a systemic risk" of harm to the rule of law in Poland and the Polish government did nothing more to eliminate this fear during a hearing in Luxembourg on Tuesday 26 June.
This is what European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans stated in Luxembourg on Tuesday evening after a hearing on the rule of law, during which Warsaw was expected to respond to a series of questions on its recent judicial reforms. The Commission is keeping its "door open" and is ready to help Warsaw, but "we still need decisions" from the Polish government, Timmermans stated.
The hearing, which was delayed, nevertheless lasted nearly three hours, as was originally planned. "It enabled very clear positions to be heard" from both parties and "I am convinced that the dialogue can continue", Bulgaria's Foreign Affairs Minister Ekaterina Zakharieva stated. Thirteen countries spoke.
The next step will be the General Affairs Council in September "for the assessment of the situation and the steps to be followed", Zakharieva added. It will be for the Austrians to decide on the organisation.
"We were well prepared for this hearing and the Polish government too", Timmermans stated, adding that Warsaw had been asked very specific and detailed questions.
The attitude of the EU member states is not confrontational, Timmermans stated, but "this issue needs to be settled in a European way and Poland must play its historical role in the European construction". It is thus important "to ensure that there are no more systemic threats", he said.
Poland's European Affairs Minister Konrad Szymański meanwhile said that the exercise had enabled his country to explain the Polish government's steps in detail and in very concrete terms, and that from this point of view it had been useful. "We hope the meeting will bring us closer to the end of the conflict on the rule of law", he said. But Warsaw does not believe it is necessary to organise a new hearing of this type. For Timmermans, there is, however, an urgency because from 3 July around 40 Supreme Court judges could be forced to leave their posts. According to Polish media, Timmermans is reportedly about to prepare an infringement procedure on this point. EUROPE will return to this. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)