In a ruling handed down on Thursday 22 January (case C-554/24 P), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) dismissed Poland’s appeal against the judgment of the General Court of the EU of May 2024 (see EUROPE 13419/22), which had rejected several Polish appeals against decisions of the European Commission offsetting, against Poland’s claims on the EU budget, the daily penalty payments totalling €68.5 million that Warsaw had to pay for its delay in putting an end to the operation of the Turów mine.
According to the CJEU, the General Court correctly interpreted European law.
The obligation to pay the daily penalty payment, which is paid into the EU budget, is intended to ensure compliance with the interim measures already ordered, to preserve the full effectiveness of the future final decision, and thus to guarantee the effective application of EU law in the general interest. The latter is an essential component of the Rule of law on which the Union is founded.
The judge who has imposed a periodic penalty payment may reconsider it and, if necessary, lift its effects only for the future. However, he or she cannot annul or vary it retroactively. Consequently, the settlement agreement concluded between the Czech Republic and Poland in February 2022 could not therefore extinguish Poland’s obligation to pay the periodic penalty payments that had already fallen due.
To see the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/kch (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)