The four main European organisations of judges - the Association of European Administrative Judges (AEAJ), the European Association of Judges, Rechters voor Rechters (Judges for Judges) and the European Magistrates for Democracy and Liberties (MEDEL) - filed, on Sunday 28 August, before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), a lawsuit against the EU Council over its decision to unblock Recovery and Resilience funds for Poland and to have this decision annulled (see EUROPE 12974/6).
Based on a positive opinion from the Commission despite the country’s problems with the Rule of law, EU finance ministers had approved, on 17 June, Poland’s €35.4 billion recovery plan (€23.9 billion in grants and €11.5 billion in loans) as part of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan.
Despite a long debate and the reluctance of some Member States such as the Benelux countries, the Member States had found the Polish plan to be solid on the issue of climate and digital transitions. However, having demanded key steps in the reform of the judiciary from Warsaw following the various rulings of the EU Court of Justice, the Commission has not, to date, released any money to Warsaw.
Conditions for the granting of the aid scheme include that the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court be disbanded and replaced with an independent court; that the disciplinary system be reformed and that judges who have been affected by the decisions taken by the Disciplinary Chamber have the right to have their cases reviewed by the new chamber.
The four European organisations of judges argue that these conditions fall short of what is necessary to ensure effective protection of the independence of judges and the judiciary and that they do not take into account the relevant judgments of the CJEU.
On the issue of the Polish judges concerned, the Court of Justice had requested immediate reinstatement.
Link to the press release: https://aeur.eu/f/2un (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)