At the request of the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, on Friday 29 October, the European Parliament Legal Service lodged legal action at the Court of Justice of the European Union against the European Commission for the non-application of the regulation establishing conditionality between the granting of the EU budget and respect for the Rule of law in the beneficiary country (see EUROPE 12813/4).
”As requested in the parliamentary resolutions, our legal service has today lodged an appeal against the European Commission with the Court of Justice. [...] We expect the Commission to act consistently and to live up to what President von der Leyen said during our last plenary discussion on this subject. Words must be turned into action”, Mr Sassoli said in a statement – referring to the debate in Strasbourg on the state of Rule of law in Poland – in the presence of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (see EUROPE 12815/3).
Warsaw summons Belgian ambassador to Poland The Belgian ambassador to Poland, Luc Jacobs, was summoned by the Polish Foreign Ministry, or so reported several media on Friday 29 October, after the speech given on 27 October at the College of Europe in Bruges by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo.
In the midst of a dispute between the European Commission and Warsaw over the Rule of law, the Belgian Prime Minister had been critical of the rhetoric used by his counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, who had said that the Commission would start “a third world war” if it refused to disburse the recovery funds. The Belgian MEP was of the opinion that Poland was “playing with fire” and noted that membership of the EU is a membership of a “Union of values” and not a “cash machine.
He also believed that the European Council could not leave the Commission alone in its dealings with Warsaw and should instead act in this regard. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and Solenn Paulic)