The EU Commission gave Poland an ultimatum on Tuesday in the conflict over the rule of law and threatened to pay fines.

If the country does not confirm by August 16 that it will respect the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the disciplinary body, the Commission will request the ECJ to pay fines.

Such a case is extremely rare.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Last week the Polish Constitutional Court ruled that the ECJ's interim order to dissolve the disciplinary body was in breach of the country's constitution.

A day later, the ECJ announced its final judgment on the matter and confirmed that the chamber violated the independence of judges.

Impending "break in the basic architecture of the European legal system"

 "We have to insist on the primacy of European law," said Vice President Vera Jourová, who is responsible for the rule of law, of the FAZ on Tuesday. This includes that judgments of the ECJ are respected. It is clear that the government would have to violate a ruling by its constitutional court in order to comply with the Commission's request. "If we do not intervene, it would be a break in the basic architecture of the European legal system," said Jourová. If the government in Warsaw does not give in, penalties could also be increased: "In the end, it's about how high the price a country is willing to pay."

The Commission can apply to the ECJ either for a one-off penalty payment or for a daily sum to be paid until the state dissolves the disciplinary body;

a combination of both is also possible.

The one-time payment would have to be at least 3.158 million euros.

The daily rate depends on the severity of the offense, its duration and the financial strength of the member country.

The judgment stipulated a fine of at least 100,000 euros per day

In the recent past there has only been one case in which a country has been sentenced to fines by the ECJ at the request of the Commission - it also concerns Poland. In November 2017, the Luxembourg court ordered the country to pay “a fine of at least 100,000 euros per day” during which deforestation in the Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, continues. At that time, the PiS government gave in immediately so that it was just barely able to avoid fines.

In the new case, Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders had campaigned internally to give the Polish government only one week before the commission turned to the ECJ. After an internal debate, however, the panel decided in favor of the one month period, based on the decision of the Luxembourg judges. The reason for the hurry is that the President of the Supreme Court had rescheduled hearings in disciplinary cases last week. The dates have now been postponed to September.