Poland and EU have agreed “milestones” to unblock funds, says Polish government

Poland and the European Commission have reached an agreement on the “milestones” that will allow billions of euros in post-pandemic recovery funds to be unlocked, says a Polish government spokesman. The plan could get final approval within days, following months of delays over rule-of-law concerns.

“Both the team from the Polish side and the team created by European Commission President [Ursula von der Leyen] have come to an agreement on the content of the ‘milestones’,” said the spokesman, Piotr Müller, this afternoon.

He has not yet specified what those milestones are, but last year von der Leyen said that they included dismantling the disciplinary chamber for judges, reforming the broader disciplinary system for judges, and reinstating unlawfully dismissed judges.

Müller, however, said today that the milestones “do not only concern the justice system, which is a narrow section that was discussed only at the very end, but many economic and systemic reforms that will be implemented using EU funds”.

He added that, with agreement now reached, Poland is just “waiting for a formal, final step from the European Commission” to unlock its €36 billion of funds. The commission has not yet commented on the developments.

While Brussels has approved the spending plans of almost all member states for the Covid recovery funds, and began paying out the first money last August, Poland’s is among the three that it has still not accepted.

The commission has cited concerns over the rule of law, and in particular the treatment of judges in Poland under the disciplinary system put in place by the Law and Justice (PiS) government.

Last year, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ordered the new disciplinary chamber for judges to be suspended. But Poland has still not complied with that ruling, resulting in ongoing fines of €1 million per day.

Warsaw argues that its reforms do not violate the rule of law, and are needed to improve the functioning of the judiciary and end impunity for judges. It accuses the EU of meddling in Poland’s internal affairs illegitimately and for political reasons.

However, it has indicated that it will comply with the ruling by introducing further legislative changes, though argues that these require time to prepare and approve. Proposals to change the disciplinary system, including one put forward by President Andrzej Duda in February, are currently being discussed.

“This is a key bill for Poland, the point is to unblock the National Recovery Fund,” said PiS MP Marek Ast, chairman of a parliamentary justice committee, this week. However, PiS has faced difficulties persuading its hardline, eurosceptic coalition partner, United Poland (Solidarna Polska), to accept a compromise.

Even if legislation is passed, some critics say that it will make only superficial changes, with the core problem – the possibility of exerting political pressure on judges – remaining.

“In the presidential bill, the disciplinary chamber [for judges] is to be replaced by a professional responsibility chamber,” said opposition MP Joanna Senyszyn this week. “In my opinion, this is just a change of name, because the situation will be very similar.”

The European Parliament last week adopted a resolution urging the other EU institutions to block recovery funds for Poland and Hungary until rule-of-law issues are resolved.

Main image credit: Guillaume Périgois/Unsplash

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.