Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have called for EU funds to be restricted for countries that violate the rule of law, naming Poland specifically. The EU’s economy commissioner, meanwhile, says that Poland and Hungary have still not done enough to secure the disbursement of Covid recovery funds.
In response, Poland’s prime minister has pledged that his government will “react creatively” to “attempts at financial blackmail against Poland”.
Following yesterday’s European Parliament debate on “the rule of law crisis in Poland”, Belgium’s deputy prime minister, Sophie Wilmès, tweeted that the recent ruling by Poland’s constitution court, which found parts of the EU treaties to be incompatible with Polish law, “undermines the foundations of the EU”.
She then shared a statement from the Benelux countries – Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – calling on the European Commission to “use all the levers at its disposal to deal with systemic threats to the rule of law”.
While this should include “using the rule of law conditionality mechanism as soon as possible” – meaning restricting the disbursement of EU funds – the commission should also “seriously consider additional steps…including during the decision-making process for the approval of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF)”.
The ruling of the Polish Constitutional Court undermines the foundations of the EU project. At the #GAC, the #Benelux 🇧🇪🇳🇱🇱🇺 calls upon @EU_Commission to use all the levers at its disposal to deal with systemic threats of the Rule of Law. #RoL
— Sophie Wilmès (@Sophie_Wilmes) October 19, 2021
The RRF is the largest component of the EU’s funding package to boost recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. It is worth tens of billions of euros to Poland alone.
The European Commission has yet to approve the Polish government’s national plan to implement the RRF. Paolo Gentiloni, the commissioner for economy, last month indicated that the funds are being held up due to concerns over the primacy of EU law being respected in Poland.
Gentiloni repeated those concerns yesterday. “We were supposed to make a decision on these plans many weeks ago,” he said, referring to Poland and Hungary.
“[But] we do not have the implementation of specific recommendations for those countries that concern topics related to the protection of European financial resources, their proper use, and respect for the rule of law,” he continued, quoted by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
Here’s 6 reasons why the EU can (and should) block #Hungary & #Poland National Recovery & Resilience Plans to enforce #ruleoflaw
With @JMorijn @ProfPech @DanielSarmiento we authored a memo addressed to Commission & Council on behalf @GoodLobbyProfs : https://t.co/qtmAeHeK8p pic.twitter.com/OcHVQzCnoH
— Alberto Alemanno (@alemannoEU) August 30, 2021
“Today there was a very important discussion in the European Parliament, during which President of the European Commission [Ursula] von der Leyen explained that the concept of the superiority of European law over national law is inalienable to us,” Gentiloni added.
“So far, the obligations to comply with certain conditions included in the recommendations are not sufficient to approve the plans,” he concluded. “That is why we have been standing still for several months.”
During yesterday’s debate, von der Leyen warned Poland that there would be “serious consequences” as a result of its constitutional court ruling. Justice commissioner Didier Reynders said that procedures to trigger a mechanism restricting EU funds would soon begin, reports Politico Europe.
Speaking to RMF FM, Reynders also noted that the constitutional court ruling is not the only issue in question. He pointed out that Poland has still not implemented an order from the European Court of Justice to end its disciplinary system for judges.
But Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, yesterday staunchly defended his government’s position and denied claims it is bringing about “Polexit” from the EU. Speaking in the European Parliament, he said that his country was being “attacked in an unfair and biased manner”.
Morawiecki later told Polish state broadcaster TVP that he expected his government’s plan to implement the RRF to be “adopted in accordance with the regulations that the commission has developed itself”.
“[But] if there is an attempt at financial blackmail against Poland, we will try to react creatively and very flexibly so that individual projects do not suffer,” he added.
However, Witold Orłowski, a professor of economics, told the Rzeczpospolita daily today that it would be “disastrous” if Poland lost out on EU funds. “We could become the poorest country in the EU” without them, wrote the newspaper.
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
