The ECJ imposes a daily fine, but Poland does not want to pay.
The dispute with the EU is coming to a head.
Does it end in a "Polexit"?
Warsaw / Brussels - The dispute has been simmering for years.
Now he continues to rock himself up: If Angela Merkel (CDU) leaves the international stage as Chancellor in late autumn, no solution will be found for the conflict between Poland and the EU.
Your successor, presumably Olaf Scholz (SPD), may have to act as a mediator.
Because the dispute between Poland and the EU is now down to the nitty-gritty - money.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has imposed a fine fine: Poland is supposed to pay one million euros a day.
The background to this is the country's refusal to implement supreme court decisions on controversial judicial reforms.
It is particularly about the order to stop the work of the disputed disciplinary body to punish judges.
According to ECJ rulings, their activities are not compatible with EU rules on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
Poland refuses to pay fines: "Can and should not pay just a single zloty"
There is little to suggest that Poland will give in.
Poland's Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro has refused the ordered fines.
“Poland cannot and should not pay a single zloty,” he said on Thursday (October 28), according to the PAP news agency.
The Polish state should not “submit to lawlessness”.
A few days ago, the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke in the EU Parliament and accused the EU of “blackmail”.
"I want to reject the language of threats and blackmail," he said.
The tone is getting rougher, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen threatened with new proceedings.
"Polexit"?
MEPs warn of danger - Poland's government has so far ruled out an exit
Lena Düpont, EPP member of the EU Parliament, called the record amount of one million euros a day "significant" in an interview with the Phoenix broadcaster. “Because it comes in addition to what the European Union is keeping through the reconstruction fund.” The EU could also withhold money through other funds. "It's a shame it had to get to the money, but it's a last resort that we have on hand before the big guns hit."
The EU Commission itself openly threatened on Friday.
"We have a very effective procedure," said a spokesman for the Brussels authority on the basic procedure for such penalties.
“In the end, the amounts concerned will be collected.” If a country does not pay a penalty even after being asked several times, the sum of EU payments to the country will be compensated.
The fine goes to the EU budget.
Düpont spoke of decisive days at European level.
The step that some fear: the "Polexit".
With the exit of Poland from the EU, the second country after Great Britain would leave the European Union.
And the “Brexit” experience was not a good one.
Years of negotiations, disputes, economic problems.
In a “Polexit”, Düpont also sees a loss for Poland. She warned: “I think the danger is real - not because someone would actually ask for it, or because it is part of the Polish government's communication strategy. But in the end, if we are not careful, it will come down to a factual one. ”Your hope:“ I am counting very much on the fact that now the Polish people, who have shown very large, very numerous pro-European demonstrations in recent weeks where it stands, takes responsibility a little more and puts its own government under pressure ”. Morawiecki always excludes a "Polexit". A large part of the population rates EU membership positively.
Migration: Are the EU and Poland working together?
Border guards registered thousands of attempts to illegally cross the border
Neither the EU nor Poland currently want Germany's neighboring country to leave.
Because with all arguments there are also numerous problems that can only be solved together.
Since the summer, people have been coming to Germany from Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other crisis areas via Belarus and Poland.
The background to this is the announcement by the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko that he will no longer stop migrants en route to the European Union.
Horst Seehofer is criticized from several sides for his migration policy with Poland.
Poland had already announced that it wanted to build a permanent fortification on the border with Belarus without EU funding.
If there should be financial support from Brussels, then his country will accept these funds, said Prime Minister Morawiecki, according to the PAP news agency.
“However, we are not dependent on the EU.” At the same time, the border protects not only Poland from illegal migration, but the entire EU.
Poland's border guards have registered 26,000 illegal border crossings since the beginning of the year, 14,200 of them in October alone.
The parliament in Warsaw therefore decided around two weeks ago to build a “solid, high barrier” that is to be equipped with a surveillance system and motion detectors.
(cibo / dpa)
