Values ​​conflict: EU court ordered Poland to pay a fine of € 1 million per day before making amendments to domestic legislation

The EU court imposed fines on Poland in the amount of € 1 million per day before bringing national legislation in line with EU norms. 

As follows from the statement of the EU judicial body, Warsaw will have to pay in favor of the European Commission until the national legislation of the country is amended.

In particular, we are talking about the jurisdiction of the disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court.

The statement said that adherence to the July 14, 2021 decision is necessary to avoid harming the EU's legal order and the values ​​on which the alliance is based, in particular the rule of law.

We are talking about the decision of the EU court, according to which the disciplinary chamber of the Supreme Court of Poland should stop working because of its right to remove judges from work.

Brussels is of the opinion that this could threaten their impartiality.

Polish Deputy Justice Minister Sebastian Kaleta called the EU court's decision "usurpation and blackmail."

According to him, the court completely ignores the Polish Constitution and the verdicts of the Constitutional Court.

TSUE kompletnie lekceważy i ignoruje polską konstytucję i wyroki TK.

Działa poza kompetencjami i nadużywa instytucji kar pieniężnych i środków tymczasowych.

To kolejny etap operacji mającej oderwać od Polski wpływu na ustrój naszego państwa, to uzurpacja i szantaż.

https://t.co/4OtlHRloVs

- Sebastian Kaleta (@sjkaleta) October 27, 2021

In addition, Caleta believes that the EU Court is acting outside its competence and abuses the imposition of monetary fines and interim measures.

The reason for the current aggravation in relations between the EU and Poland was the October decision of the government of the republic to support the ruling of the country's Constitutional Court, which recognized the supremacy of domestic law over the norms of the European Union.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki then said that Poland was not ready to be treated as a "country of the second category".

He noted that Poland is striving for an equal position within the EU.

Brussels, in turn, stressed that the supremacy of European norms is a fundamental principle underlying the European Union.

For this reason, any decisions of the European Court of Justice are binding and must be enforced by all national courts. 

In addition, the European Parliament then said that Warsaw's actions could lead to Polexit - the country's exit from the EU.

Note that a month before this, the political council of the ruling party of Poland "Law and Justice" adopted a resolution excluding the country's exit from the EU.

Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at the IMEMO RAS, in an interview with RT, noted that earlier judges were elected in Poland.

According to the expert, according to the new Polish law, they are actually appointed, which caused rejection in the EU.

Subsequently, Brussels offered Poland to return to EU law, but Warsaw did not.

Also on russian.rt.com "The offensive against the EU as a whole": how the crisis is developing in relations between Poland and Brussels

“When she was pointed to this a second time, she came up with an additional body, which she called the disciplinary chamber, which should deal with the regulation of problems arising in the formation of the judiciary in Poland,” explained Olenchenko.

According to him, the act of Warsaw in Brussels was considered "an initiative", as a result of which Poland was demanded to liquidate the newly created chamber.

Subsequently, the EU imposed a substantial fine on Warsaw.

“Now the situation is difficult for both Poland and the EU.

For Poland, in the sense that it increasingly opposes itself to the EU and expects that its position will be accepted, but the EU legally opposes it.

If now a concession is made to Poland, then other countries will refuse to comply with the EU decisions and follow the EU law, ”Olenchenko said.

Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics at Moscow State Pedagogical University, believes that we are talking about an intensifying conflict that arose even earlier between Poland and other EU countries.

“We are talking about a value conflict that is taking place, since right-wing conservative politicians who came to power in Poland, who rely on the majority of the Polish population, are currently pursuing a clearly expressed policy that conflicts with the values ​​promoted by Western countries,” he said. Shapovalov in an interview with an RT correspondent.

According to the political scientist, this conflict "goes far beyond the judicial sphere", it is caused by the differences between the West and the East of Europe.

As noted by Shapovalov, Poland in this case is not the only country, Hungary is in a similar position.

At the same time, the expert believes that it is important for the EU to force Poland to comply with the requirements that are binding on the EU countries.

“Of course, this conflict exposes the contradictions that exist in the Western world and are developing incrementally,” Shapovalov concluded.