The EU payment confirmed on Monday ends a long wait Warsaw For which the national plan was approved in June 2022, but it is Independence of the judiciary It remained closed due to her absence and continuing concerns about the decline of democracy.
The democratic deficit can be attributed to the period of the PiS government, which ruled Poland for eight years and led reforms This expanded political control over the judiciary and filled the courts with members loyal to the government she says euronews.
The most controversial reform is to empower the Supreme Court's Disciplinary Chamber to sanction judges on the basis of the content of their rulings. Because of the changes A long-standing political stalemate developed between Brussels and Warsawwhich ultimately culminated in a landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice that annulled the reform.
The state’s share of the economic stimulus fund – A total of €34.5 billion in low-interest loans and €25.3 billion in grants However, it remained frozen until Donald Tusk took over as Prime Minister and began introducing a series of legislation aimed at undoing the legacy of the PiS era.
TASK's nine-point action plan
The European Commission officially released the funds at the end of February, a few days after Donald Tusk's government presented an action plan containing nine draft laws to restore judicial independence and adopted a ministerial decree to end unjustified measures against judges.
The new Polish government also pledged to comply with the European Court of Justice ruling and respect the rule of EU law, something the PiS objected to.
The Commission considered that Warsaw's openness was sufficient to meet two overarching conditions regarding fairness, and to allow Poland to gradually receive payments from the European Union's coffers amounting to 750 billion euros.
This step paved the way for the disbursement of 6.3 billion eurosWhich consists of 3.6 billion euros in loans and 2.7 billion euros in grants, and aims, among other things, to diversify energy supplies, combat air pollution and modernize agricultural production. So far, Poland has received only €5.1 billion in advance financing, but this was done without any conditions and the amount was the same for all member states.
This is an important day for Poland, and this is just the beginning
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, noted on Monday.
Katarzyna BielczynskaThe Polish minister responsible for regional policy described the amount as the most important transfer for the European Union in the history of its membership. Warsaw is expected to submit two more requests this year for another 23 billion euros. All payments depend on the realization of investments and may be suspended again if the Prime Minister's judicial plans fail.
President Andrzej Duda, of the Law and Justice Party, must sign the nine bills in the action plan, and in the past he has used his veto power to block legislation that he said violated his presidential powers.
