Brussels and Warsaw have been struggling for months to release the Corona aid for Poland. According to the EU Commission, the latest changes to the Polish judicial system are not sufficient.
The EU Commission considers the recent changes to the Polish judicial system to be insufficient to enable the payment of funds from the multi-billion EU corona fund. The new law on the disciplinary regime for judges is still being analyzed, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Litomysl. “But I can say right now that this new law does not ensure that judges can question the status of another judge without risking disciplinary proceedings.”
However, this is a necessary condition and must be clarified before the first payment to Poland can be released, von der Leyen confirmed. The German press agency had already reported on the first analysis on Wednesday.
That’s what the argument is about
The EU Commission has been blocking the release of the Corona billions for months because it sees blatant deficiencies in the Polish judicial system. Most recently, however, she agreed with the government in Poland on the conditions for disbursing the funds of up to 35 billion euros. Warsaw assumed that the new law would meet the requirements.
On Friday, von der Leyen was visiting the Czech Republic, which had taken over the rotating presidency among the EU countries. Prime Minister Petr Fiala emphasized that the country will take on the role of a “neutral mediator” on controversial issues such as the assessment of the rule of law in Poland – even if the Czech Republic works closely with Poland, for example in the so-called Visegrad Group.
