The European Parliament expressed its “deep concern” over the European Commission’s positive assessment of the Polish recovery plan presented under the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan, pointing to “existing and continuing violations” of fundamental European values in Poland, including “the Rule of law and the independence of the judiciary”, in a resolution adopted on Thursday 9 June by a large majority (411 votes in favour, 129 against and 31 abstentions) (see EUROPE 12966/5).
MEPs “urge” the Council of the European Union to approve the Polish plan only when Poland has “fully” complied with (1) the requirements of the Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the budgetary instrument at the heart of Next Generation EU, as well as (2) all recommendations addressed to it in the area of Rule of law in the framework of the ‘European Semester’ budgetary process, and (3) it has implemented all relevant rulings of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights.
We made it clear: “no release of RRF funds until Polish authorities comply with EU Court rulings”, said Siegfried Mureșan (EPP, Romania), via Twitter. He added: “We strongly urge the EU Council to only approve Poland’s plan once it fully complies with RRF requirements, particularly those concerning fraud”.
In particular, MEPs regret that the conditions set out in the Polish plan do not envisage the “immediate” reinstatement of all judges illegally suspended for political reasons.
The Polish authorities have until the end of June to put in place a procedure allowing a judge dismissed by the illegal disciplinary chamber to request a review of this judgment (see EUROPE 12963/3). This review, which must take place within three months of the application, will be carried out by a new independent chamber. The Commission is urged to apply “robust verification mechanism as well as a probation period to ensure that the new chamber meets the criteria of an independent and impartial court established by law”.
Parliament also deplores the fact that the issues of the “illegitimate” Polish Constitutional Tribunal and the new National Council of the Judiciary are not addressed in the ‘milestones’ of the Polish plan. It therefore calls for the opening of an infringement proceeding against Poland.
Motion of censure. MEPs rejected (161 votes in favour, 382 against, 25 abstentions) an amendment by German MEPs Damian Boeselager and Terry Reintke of the Greens/EFA Group which warned the Commission that Parliament could adopt a motion of censure if it paid out EU funds to the Polish recovery plan before the conditions were met.
“Parliament will use all the tools at its disposal to ensure that the Commission does not approve Poland’s payment claims without real reforms taking place. This includes asking the Commission to resign, via a motion of censure”, warned Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens/EFA, France), in a statement.
The hypothesis of a motion of censure was initially raised by three members of the Renew Europe Group, but their Group did not support them in their approach.
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/20s (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)