25/03/2022 (Agence Europe) – The leaders of the S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups in the European Parliament called on Thursday 24 March for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen not to approve the Polish recovery plans until the independence of the judiciary is restored. “Approval of national plans [...] should be conditional on compliance with all 11 criteria set out in Article 19 and Annex V of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism Regulation”. “The war in Ukraine is a constant reminder of the value of our common duty to effectively protect democracy, the rule of law and our values”. The independence of the judiciary and respect for the rule of law are not only relevant criteria for the assessment of the plans, “but fundamental preconditions”. Link to letter: https://aeur.eu/f/yw (SP)