The European Commission will decide, at the end of the legislative process, whether to open a new case against the new law under consideration in the Polish Parliament on the disciplinary regime for judges. But it is still "early", said EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders on Thursday 23 January in Zagreb.
The Commissioner was speaking at the informal meeting of justice ministers who, in the morning, discussed the future of European judicial policies. Ministers recalled on this occasion the importance of respecting the principles of the Rule of Law.
The new Polish law, which is separate from a previous one that led the Commission to refer the matter to the EU Court of Justice and recently request provisional suspension measures (see EUROPE 12403/23), was due to be adopted by the Polish Lower House on Thursday. The Polish Senate rejected it last week.
"We are analysing the final document in the House", the Commissioner said, pointing out that the opinion of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission on the new law would be taken into account by the Commission (see EUROPE 12405/25).
Mr Reynders also announced that he would meet with members of the Polish Ministry of Justice on 24 January in Zagreb "to better understand the situation".
Respect for the Rule of Law and the so-called 'Article 7' procedures currently open against Poland and Hungary were not on the ministers' agenda. Nevertheless, during a discussion on the Strategic Agenda 2019-2024 in the field of justice, the importance of ensuring that this principle is respected and of involving the ministers of justice in a process that is largely the responsibility of the ‘General Affairs’ Council of the EU was recalled.
Didier Reynders also reiterated that the Commission would this year publish its first annual report on the Rule of Law in the EU, but did not give a timetable (see EUROPE 12408/28). According to one source, the Commissioner did not mention a date to the ministers, although he had suggested to the European Parliament that the first report could be ready for the German EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2020.
This first report will explain the situation in Member States using "different sources", such as the Council of Europe's GRECO, and corruption will be an important part of it, Reynders added in response to a question about Croatia's poor corruption score in the latest Transparency International report (see other news).
Finally, the Commissioner said he had written to Member States on 22 January asking them to designate a contact point to start collecting the information needed to draft the report, as he had announced the previous day to MEPs in the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)