Good news from Brussels for Poland and, in particular, for the Government of Donald Tusk. The European Commission announced today that it plans to close the file opened six years ago due to problems with the rule of law in the country and that could have deprived Warsaw of its right to vote in the Council. Brussels has concluded the analysis of the situation announced in February, when the new Polish government presented its action plan to correct the problems identified by Brussels as a consequence of the illiberal reforms adopted by the Law and Justice (PiS) executives, and its conclusion is that, although the measures have not yet been approved, “there is no longer a risk of serious violation” of the rule of law.
“Today a new chapter opens for Poland. After more than six years, we believe that the Article 7 procedure can be closed,” said the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, in a statement, congratulating Prime Minister Tusk on this progress. “It is the result of hard work and reform efforts,” stressed Von der Leyen, who, like the Polish leader, belongs to the European People’s Party. The result of the legislative elections in October 2023, which allowed the Civic Platform and other pro-European parties to return to power, was a relief for the European Union but the community executive denies that its decision, which gives oxygen to Tusk and its allies to one month before the elections to the European Parliament, is political in nature.
“Poland has launched legislative and non-legislative measures to respond to concerns about judicial independence, has recognized the supremacy of EU law and has committed to implement the rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights “explains the European Commission in a statement. The file, community sources recall, is based on section 7 of article 7 of the treaty and what it evaluates is the “risk” of violation of the principles and values ??of the Union. “The orientation has changed. In practice the situation is evolving favorably” and “the level of threat to the rule of law has been severely reduced, which is why we do not need this special procedure,” they add. Brussels will continue to monitor the implementation of the announced reforms but under the same legislative framework that applies to all member states.
The closure of the file will be made official after discussing the situation with the representatives of the Twenty-seven in the General Affairs Council of the EU, which will leave Hungary as the only country subject to this procedure. The political turn in Warsaw had already led the Commission to re-evaluate some decisions on access to community funds and on February 29 it decided to unblock the Polish Government’s access to 6.3 billion euros from the Recovery and Resilience Plan approved after the pandemic. from which it had not yet been able to benefit, in response to the measures taken by Tusk to guarantee judicial independence. Poland runs the risk of losing billions of euros in community aid and, even before being sworn in as prime minister, Tusk traveled to Brussels to urge the European Commission to speed up procedures to avoid this.
