Meeting at the General Affairs Council, the European Affairs Ministers of the EU will once again hear from their Polish counterpart on the rule of law situation in Poland, in the early afternoon of Tuesday 18 September.
The result of this hearing, which follows a first that took place on 26 June (see EUROPE 12050), may also be discussed at the College of Commissioners on Wednesday, but the Commission has not yet officially confirmed this.
In any event, this hearing comes as Poland has just sent the Commission its response to a reasoned opinion on the Polish Supreme Court law submitted by the Commission on 14 August (see EUROPE 12077). In this response, Warsaw reiterates that its law is not in breach of the European treaties.
On each of these occasions, the Commission has given Warsaw just one month to respond, in hopes of speeding up the timetable, which is linked to the ongoing implementation, by the Polish authorities, of the law on the retirement of Supreme Court judges and replacement procedures for judges. On Monday 17, however, the Commission refused to confirm that the College of Commissioners would examine the case of Poland on Wednesday or whether that would provide the opportunity to take the infringement procedure to its next step, this time by referring the matter to the Court of Justice. According to the Polish media, this is a credible hypothesis.
This Tuesday, the competent Polish minister will report back on the progress in all of these reforms and reiterate their aim. At this stage, it is hard to say whether this hearing will be the last one, a source explained. Last week, the Austrian Presidency was also unable to confirm the next steps and stressed that it would await the outcome of this hearing.
The Council of the EU may also be called upon in the near future to examine the Hungarian dossier following the European Parliament's activation last week of the so-called article 7 procedure. However, the EP must first submit a report to the Council. The matter could make it to the agenda of a Council of the EU in the coming weeks, a national diplomatic source said on Monday. Whatever happens, the 'Orbán' case will not officially be on the agenda of the European leaders in Salzburg, but certain countries, such as France, argue that this article 7 procedure should be supported on the same basis as the one concerning Poland to avoid any suggestion of double standards. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)