The European Commission did not specify on Monday 13 January whether the issue of the rule of law in Poland and possible new interim measures concerning the disciplinary regime for judges would be on the agenda of the meeting of the College of Commissioners on Tuesday 14 January in Strasbourg.
While the Polish press reported over the weekend on the von der Leyen Commission’s plan to ask the EU Court of Justice on 14 January to adopt new measures for the provisional suspension of the disciplinary regime, Dana Spinant, the institution’s spokesperson, said that nothing had yet been decided.
The subject “is not on the agenda at this stage”, but the President of the Commission may at any time decide to add “an item” to the agenda if she deems it “necessary”, the spokesperson said.
In December, EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders told MEPs on the Civil Liberties Committee that he was open to such interim measures (see EUROPE 12392/4). The Juncker Commission had already done so with the Act on the retirement age of Polish Supreme Court judges.
Over the weekend, European judges joined Polish judges in the streets of Warsaw to protest against this new disciplinary regime which provides for sanctions against judges who criticise the reforms introduced by the PiS government. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)