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| EU begins process that could see Poland stripped of voting rights | EU begins process that could see Poland stripped of voting rights |
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| The EU has triggered a process that could ultimately see Poland stripped of voting rights in Brussels in an unprecedented step designed to force the country’s rightwing government to drop reforms the bloc regards as a threat to the country’s democracy. | The EU has triggered a process that could ultimately see Poland stripped of voting rights in Brussels in an unprecedented step designed to force the country’s rightwing government to drop reforms the bloc regards as a threat to the country’s democracy. |
| The country’s fellow 27 member states have been advised by the European commission that the legislative programme of Poland’s government is putting at risk fundamental values expected of a democratic state by allowing political interference in its courts. | |
| “Within a period of two years a significant number of laws have been adopted - 13 in total - which put in serious risk the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers”, the vice president of the commission, Frans Timmermans, told reporters in Brussels. | |
| “Judicial reforms in Poland mean that the country’s judiciary is now under the political control of the ruling majority. In the absence of judicial independence, serious questions are raised about the effective application of EU law.” | |
| The issuing of a formal warning to Poland has been recommended to the member states under the first clause of the, until now, unused article 7 procedure. “It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to initiate Article 7.1”, Timmermans said. “But the facts leave us with no choice”. | |
| At least 22 of the 28 member states will now need to vote in favour of the commission’s proposal for a formal warning, but Brussels is confident it has the numbers. | |
| The most serious sanction possible under article 7 would be to suspend the member state of its voting rights in EU institutions and suspend EU financial transfers, but that would require unanimity among the member states in a subsequent vote. Hungary’s rightwing government has insisted it would never support such a move. | |
| Timmermans said that although there has been no dialogue with the Polish government this year on the issue, the EU was open to talks out of the current stand off. | |
| A new prime minister took office only this month, and Warsaw was told that the commission could rescind its decision if remedies were enacted within the next three months. | |
| Timmermans also insisted that at this stage he was not deploying the “nuclear option” and it would be up to Poland to respond to the developments. | |
| The highly symbolic move of triggering article 7 will no doubt, however, exacerbate a growing sense of crisis over Poland’s membership of the EU. | |
| Speaking to state television earlier on Wednesday, foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski said that any decision to initiate Article 7 proceedings would constitute “an attempt to stigmatise Poland and push us aside when key decisions are made in the EU.” | |
| State television news, controlled by Law and Justice since the passage of a controversial media law in 2016, accompanied its coverage of the announcement with the headline ‘Frans Timmermans wants to take away Poles’ right to reform their own country.’ | |
| “Poland’s image and influence in the EU has already suffered under the policy of the PiS government, so the international consequences of the Commission’s move will be limited, but the domestic fallout will be more important,” said Piotr Buras, director of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “State propaganda is likely to portray this decision as an hostile act of foreign oppressors directed against Poland’s democracy and sovereignty. It will fuel the narrative about Poland as a besieged fortress, and about the West betraying Poland.” | |
| The Polish government insists the judiciary retains too much of the institutional architecture that was in place during Poland’s time as a communist state, and that it needs to be purged and placed in a new legal framework. | The Polish government insists the judiciary retains too much of the institutional architecture that was in place during Poland’s time as a communist state, and that it needs to be purged and placed in a new legal framework. |
| The development will prove highly awkward for Theresa May, who will be in Warsaw for a UK-Poland summit on Thursday, at which she hopes to push forward her vision of a post-Brexit trading relationship with the rest of Europe. | The development will prove highly awkward for Theresa May, who will be in Warsaw for a UK-Poland summit on Thursday, at which she hopes to push forward her vision of a post-Brexit trading relationship with the rest of Europe. |
| The British prime minister, who will be travelling with the chancellor, Philip Hammond, and the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, is likely to be asked which side of the argument she supports. The UK government has been ambiguous over its position, due to concerns that Brussels should not be meddling in domestic affairs. | The British prime minister, who will be travelling with the chancellor, Philip Hammond, and the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, is likely to be asked which side of the argument she supports. The UK government has been ambiguous over its position, due to concerns that Brussels should not be meddling in domestic affairs. |
| While it is a keen advocate of independent judicial systems, the British government also wants to build alliances as it attempts to win support for May’s pursuit of a “deep and special” trade deal with the EU. | While it is a keen advocate of independent judicial systems, the British government also wants to build alliances as it attempts to win support for May’s pursuit of a “deep and special” trade deal with the EU. |
| A spokesman for the prime minister said she would raise her concerns over the rule of law when in Warsaw, but that the UK hoped the issue could be swiftly resolved. | |
| The row over the Polish government’s reforms to the country’s judiciary has been rolling on for two years but appears to have come to a head in the wake of the Polish senate’s decision last Friday to approve legislation giving the executive greater control of the supreme court and national council of the judiciary, which appoints judges. | The row over the Polish government’s reforms to the country’s judiciary has been rolling on for two years but appears to have come to a head in the wake of the Polish senate’s decision last Friday to approve legislation giving the executive greater control of the supreme court and national council of the judiciary, which appoints judges. |
| Under the new laws, which are yet to be approved by the Polish president, the supreme court will be able to conduct “extraordinary reviews” of final judgments by lower courts, including those issued over the last 20 years. | |
| An autonomous disciplinary chamber will also be created within the supreme court to be partly staffed by lay members elected by the upper house of parliament. | |
| Supreme court judges will retire after reaching the age of 65, rather than the current 70, but the president will have the power to extend the retirement age in each individual case. | |
| The judiciary council, which assesses candidates for the role of judge, would be elected in the main by the lower house of parliament. Until now this right was largely enjoyed by the judges themselves. |