The European Commission will take steps to punish Poland for challenging the supremacy of EU law, its head has vowed as she condemned Warsaw for “calling into question the foundations of the European Union”, Financial Times reports.
Ursula von der Leyen, commission president, said on Tuesday that Brussels had three tools to hit back at Poland, ranging from a legal challenge, to a formal sanction that could withhold tens of billions of euros in EU funds, and a political process that has the power to strip the country of bloc membership rights.
“We cannot and we will not allow our common values to be put at risk. The commission will act,” von der Leyen told the European parliament in a strongly critical speech, as Poland’s prime minister listened in the chamber.
“This ruling . . . is a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order.”
Brussels is under increasing pressure from European lawmakers and some member states to harden its stance against Poland and punish the country’s government for a court ruling this month that declared parts of EU law were not compatible with the Polish constitution.
That ruling significantly escalated a five-year-long struggle between Brussels and Warsaw over rule of law concerns, related to sweeping judicial reforms by the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) that have included an attempt to purge the Supreme Court, and the introduction of a disciplinary regime that allows judges to be punished for the content of their rulings.
Addressing a debate devoted to the Polish crisis, von der Leyen said the commission was “carefully assessing” the ruling, adding: “But I can already tell you: I am deeply concerned.” Responding to her with a bellicose and counter-attacking speech of his own, Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki insisted that his government was part of the “pro-European majority in Poland”. He accused the EU of double standards in its treatment of Warsaw, and dismissed criticism of his government as “unfair and biased”.
