For two years, the ruling Law and Justice party has worked to solidify political control over the Polish courts. Now the EU is activating a sanctions law that has never been used before.
The European Union has taken unprecedented steps toward punishing Poland for a series of laws that have upended the checks and balances of Polish government. Through a never-before-implemented process, Poland could face sanctions, potentially including a loss of voting rights within the EU — although Hungary is expected to block the worst of the repercussions.
Meanwhile, Poland’s president has signed new legislation to solidify political control over Polish courts, after previously vetoing similar bills this summer. President Andrzej Duda accused EU leaders of hypocrisy and lies when they denounced the measures as undemocratic, The Associated Press reports. He pointed to the political process of nominating judges for the U. S. Supreme Court to defend political control over Poland’s courts, the AP writes.
The remarkable step from the EU comes after two years of Poland’s ruling party, the Law and Justice party, strengthening its control over the country’s judiciary despite the vocal and repeated objections of European authorities.
“With no compromise in sight, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans says there’s no choice but to move ahead with Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty, which has the power to suspend Warsaw’s voting rights,” Teri Schultz reports for NPR from Brussels.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, says the action is necessary to “protect the rule of law in Europe.”
“Over a period of two years, the Polish authorities have adopted more than 13 laws affecting the entire structure of the justice system in Poland,” the Commission writes.
The commission gave Poland three months to “address the problems,” but Polish leaders have signaled that they have no plans to budge.
“EU member states must now decide by a two-thirds majority whether they agree with the Commission’s recommendation to trigger Article 7,” Deutsche Welle reports. Brussels is confident it has those votes, The Guardian notes.
If the article is triggered, punitive actions could follow — including, hypothetically, the suspension of voting rights within the European Union.
But suspending voting rights would require unanimity, and, the BBC reports, “Hungary has said it would block such a move.”
Bloomberg Politics notes that even if some member states block sanctions through Article 7, EU leaders have other options for putting pressure on Poland:
How did relations between Poland and the EU reach this breaking point?
In November 2015, the Euro-skeptic, populist and nationalist Law and Justice Party found itself controlling both houses of parliament and the presidency. But Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal posed a possible check on the party’s power. So party leaders introduced changes that would make it far more difficult for the tribunal to overturn a law.
In the two years since, Poland has moved forward with a number of laws allowing greater political control of the judiciary — by pushing judges out and allowing elected leaders to appoint new magistrates, among other things.
As NPR’s Colin Dwyer reported in August, the resulting tension with European leadership has been “impossible to miss” on the continent:
In August, as Polish citizens participated in massive street protests against the changes, Duda surprised many onlookers by vetoing two of those controversial measures.
Protests continued into December. But this time, Duda essentially backtracked on his veto, as he signed similar bills into law on Wednesday.
The Associated Press has more background on the EU’s decision to censure Poland:
