Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte wants the European Commission not to validate the Polish recovery plan until the dispute arising from the Constitutional Tribunal ruling challenging the principle of primacy of EU law over national law is resolved (see EUROPE 12807/1, 12808/1).
He called for the matter to be referred to the European Council at the EU summit on 21-22 October in Brussels, during a debate in the Dutch parliament, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday 13 October.
On Thursday, the European Commission took note of this request and reiterated that it was continuing its analysis of the judgment, which is still awaiting full publication in the Polish official Journal of Laws. The operational part of the 7 October decision has been published, but not the reasoning, said its spokesman Eric Mamer.
He stressed the importance of a “solid, fully factual”, and “indisputable” analysis of “such a serious and complex” case.
Charles Michel, President of the European Council, will start consultations with Member States on Friday 15 October to set the agenda for the summit.
The Polish dossier will be discussed by the Ministers for European Affairs in Luxembourg on Tuesday 19 October as part of a general exchange on the state of the rule of law in the EU.
Some countries have specifically requested that the issue be put on the agenda, a diplomatic source said on Thursday.
EESC calls for activation of conditionality
For the President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Christa Schweng, the “decision of the Polish Tribunal will mainly affect Poles, who will no longer have any guarantee that the freedoms and rights resulting from EU membership will be properly applied”.
“European businesses, workers, and civil society as a whole will also be collateral victims, as this ruling undermines legal certainty and equality before the law”, she said in a statement, calling on Poland to “urgently restore all the legal safeguards to which it committed when it joined the EU”.
Ms Schweng also calls on the EU institutions to activate “immediately” the instrument making the granting of aid from the EU budget conditional on respect for the rule of law in the recipient country. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)