On Friday 22 October, EU leaders publicly returned to the issue of Poland and the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of 7 October, which they had discussed for 2 hours the previous day, and reiterated their concerns about the judgment, which calls into question key articles of the EU Treaties (see EUROPE 12817/2).
The President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recalled that this judgment not only puts at stake the principle of the independence of the judiciary, but also that of “mutual trust” between Member States.
She recalled the decisions of the Court of Justice of the EU, which has asked the government to reinstate judges who had been dismissed. “We are waiting for Poland to do it”.
The President also recalled the range of tools being considered and the “combination” of legal and concrete responses. She said that the European Commission would not activate ‘Rule of law conditionality’ before the Court of Justice’s judgment on the Polish and Hungarian appeal, but would send “requests for information” beforehand.
However, “the road ahead is long”, the President also conceded.
For his part, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, defended his institution’s action, saying that it was not his job to take decisions on this matter, but that it was the European Commission’s job, referring to the internal ‘Rule of law’ between the two institutions.
“It is important to have a political dialogue. We felt a strong political message from many leaders to continue all efforts, to continue the political dialogue. There is only one objective: to listen to the other person, to understand what the exact problem is, to be precise, to avoid ambiguities in order to find solutions. This must be our common goal”, the President pleaded.
“We had a frank discussion. The fundamental issue of the Polish question is not the question of the primacy of European law. The Polish issue is that of the independence of the judiciary”, reacted the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
“All Member States are committed to the Rule of law, and there must be dialogue and in-depth work to resolve the problems that arise in the Polish case. We expect the Polish government to make concrete gestures to avoid having to use all the instruments of pressure available to us to ensure that the law is respected”, he added, indicating that Mateusz Morawiecki had “expressed his willingness to engage in this work and to answer the questions raised”.
“We shared our concern that this spiral should be broken, as the independence of the judiciary is an essential pillar of European values. This is not only a legal problem, but also a political task. There was a broad consensus that in these political discussions, respect is important to resolve these difficult issues”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also noted.
The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, also acknowledged broader questions about European integration, as did the Chancellor, who said on Friday that the judgment raises the question of the “different conceptions” of the European Union among Member States, including the question of the place of nations.
The Dutchman, who welcomed the fact that “the majority of Member States have been very critical of what Poland is doing”, also said: “We need to have discussions - healthy ones - on the boundary between the States and the EU. The independence of the judiciary is part of our foundation. But a debate is also needed on where national rules start and where they stop. Discussions are needed, also in the context of the conference on the future of the EU”, as the Chancellor also proposed.
The Dutchman also warned “that we have a role to play as a Council; it is not just for the Commission to act”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with the editorial staff)