The European Parliament is urging that the billions in aid for Poland from the Corona reconstruction fund only flow when the country has fully complied with the rulings and orders of the European Court of Justice on the rule of law.

MEPs voted in Strasbourg on Thursday for a resolution in which they criticized the European Commission, and in particular its President Ursula von der Leyen, for giving a positive assessment of the country's recovery plan last week.

The vast majority was "seriously concerned" about this because the judicial reform in Poland was still in progress and the previous commitments by the government in Warsaw were not sufficient.

Parliament appealed to the Council of Member States not to approve the plan until

Thomas Gutschker

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

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The approval of the reconstruction plan is a matter for the finance ministers and is a prerequisite for Warsaw being able to apply for grants and loans.

The Commission then makes a recommendation again.

She tied her approval to Poland reaching several "milestones" in reforming its judiciary.

This concerns the establishment of a new disciplinary body with independent judges, the amendment of the disciplinary law and the reinstatement of judges who have been unlawfully removed from office.

Unlike Parliament, however, the Commission does not make its assessment dependent on Poland also resolving its conflict with the ECJ.

At the beginning of November, he set a daily fine of one million euros as long as there is no independent disciplinary body in Poland.

"The recovery and resilience plan does not replace the verdict," von der Leyen argued on Tuesday.

“It is a safety net for Poland to comply with the verdict.”

A move by the Liberals and Greens to threaten a vote of no confidence in the Commission if Poland received money before all conditions were met failed to find a majority.

A party conference of the Liberals at the weekend had spoken out in favor of this, but this was already controversial in the ranks of the Renew faction.

Its chairman Stéphane Séjourné is a close confidant of French President Emmanuel Macron, who in turn supports von der Leyen politically.