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Protest march by European judges for the independence of the Polish judiciary in Warsaw in January 2020: The EU Parliament had called on the member states not to agree to the release of the funds
Photo: Vanessa Gera/AP
The EU states have approved the payment of funds from the multi-billion euro Corona reconstruction fund to Poland, subject to conditions.
At a meeting in Brussels on Friday, the finance ministers of the member states voted in favor of a corresponding proposal from the EU Commission.
The government in Warsaw has made "very important commitments to the independence of the judiciary," said EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni.
These would now have to be complied with “before each payment”.
For years, Brussels has accused the Polish government of undermining the independence of the courts with judicial reforms.
That is why the Commission withheld the billions in aid for Warsaw planned in the reconstruction fund.
Warsaw then announced in May that it had reached an agreement with the EU.
At the beginning of June, Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen proposed releasing the funds subject to conditions.
Accordingly, Poland must meet three conditions:
A disciplinary body for judges of the Supreme Court must be dissolved,
the disciplinary system for judges and prosecutors needs to be reformed and
Counselors who have already been sanctioned must be given the opportunity to have their case re-examined.
Warsaw has already implemented the dissolution of the controversial disciplinary chamber.
However, critics from the Polish opposition and judges' associations complain
that the new law does not allay concerns about political influence on the judiciary in Poland.
There are also doubts within the EU Commission as to whether Warsaw is serious about its reforms.
The EU Parliament was "concerned" and called on the member states not to approve the proposal for a conditional release of the funds.
At the meeting of finance ministers, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden expressed their skepticism in a joint letter.
In particular, they demanded that in Poland "automatically all judges dismissed and suspended in violation of the requirement of judicial independence" be reinstated.
France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said there were abstentions, but no country voted against the Commission's proposal.
The CSU MEP Markus Ferber demanded that the Commission now have to check carefully whether Poland actually fulfills the requirements.
pad/AFP