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Corona aid: EU and Poland agree on payment plan

2022-06-01T18:09:18.603Z


Corona aid: EU and Poland agree on payment plan Created: 06/01/2022Updated: 06/01/2022, 19:59 After months of disputes with the Polish government, the EU Commission has agreed on a plan for the payment of billions in corona aid. © Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa Brussels and Warsaw have been struggling for months to release the Corona aid for Poland - now there is a deal. Von der Leyen had al


Corona aid: EU and Poland agree on payment plan

Created: 06/01/2022Updated: 06/01/2022, 19:59

After months of disputes with the Polish government, the EU Commission has agreed on a plan for the payment of billions in corona aid.

© Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa

Brussels and Warsaw have been struggling for months to release the Corona aid for Poland - now there is a deal.

Von der Leyen had always emphasized that he would use all means to defend the rule of law.

After months of disputes with the Polish government, the EU Commission has agreed on a plan for the payment of billions in corona aid.

The plan envisages a comprehensive reform of the judiciary to strengthen the independence of Polish judges, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday evening.

She wants to travel to Warsaw this Thursday and present details of the agreement.

It will be a while before Poland actually receives money from the 800 billion euro corona fund - Poland first has to meet the intermediate goals agreed in the development plan.

These relate, among other things, to the judiciary.

It's about 35 million euros

According to the EU Commission, Poland can hope for a total of 23.9 billion euros in grants and an additional 11.5 billion euros in loans.

Before that, however, the Council of the 27 EU states must also approve the Polish plan.

Wednesday's decision was preceded by a bitter dispute over the Polish judicial system, which the EU Commission believes curtails the independence of judges and undermines European standards.

Poland had already submitted its corona development plan in May 2021.

In order to receive money from the EU's so-called Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), member states must submit a plan with investment and reform projects, which should actually be assessed by the Commission within two months.

However, approval of the Polish plan has been postponed.

And what about judicial reform?

In October there was even a personal confrontation between von der Leyen and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in the Strasbourg European Parliament.

"We will defend the rule of law and the treaties of the European Union by all means," von der Leyen said at the time.

Poland will only receive money if certain judicial reforms are reversed.

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According to the EU Commission, the agreement that has now been reached provides, among other things, for disciplinary proceedings against judges to be decided by an independent court and not by the controversial disciplinary body.

In addition, judges must not be subject to disciplinary action when they ask the European Court of Justice to interpret EU law.

Judges who are already affected by decisions of the Disciplinary Body must be able to have these decisions reviewed by an independent court.

Justice System Amendments Act

After years of confrontation, Warsaw recently introduced a law to change the judicial system in parliament.

At the end of May, the first chamber of the Polish parliament, the Sejm, decided to abolish the disciplinary body that can punish and dismiss any judge or prosecutor.

It is now to be replaced by a new body.

On Wednesday, the second chamber of parliament, the Senate, also dealt with the bill introduced by President Andrzej Duda.

If the Senate agrees, Duda could sign the law.

Poland was also in a better negotiating position as a result of the Russian war against Ukraine.

More than 3.5 million refugees from Ukraine have arrived in Poland since the beginning of the war.

The Polish willingness to help was always positively emphasized by von der Leyen.

Harsh criticism from the European Parliament

However, harsh criticism came from the European Parliament.

"The EU Commission is being fobbed off with a little Polish judicial reform," said SPD politician Katarina Barley.

The deep problems in the Polish justice system remained.

There is still no control of the government by an independent judiciary and judgments of the European Court of Justice are being ignored.

The Green MP Daniel Freund spoke of a signal "that attacks on the independent judiciary can be rewarded with many billions of EU taxpayers' money".

The tactic of doing radical damage first and then rowing back a bit pays off.

CSU politician Markus Ferber commented: “Poland has been moving towards the EU in recent weeks.

But all that glitters is not gold.” The Commission must now monitor the implementation of the Polish plan with eagle eyes.

dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-06-01

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