Brussels calls on Poland to pay EUR 69 million for the Disciplinary Chamber. And the penalty for Turów will be fined in February

Poland was given 45 days on Thursday to pay a penalty of EUR 69 million to the common cash register. If the government of Mateusz Morawiecki refuses, according to the administrative rules of Brussels, it will receive a reminder with another 15 days to settle the bills. And in the event of another refusal, it will be able to start deducting this money from EU funds for Poland from the EU budget.

The European Court of Justice (CJEU) last autumn imposed a penalty of one million euro on Poland for each subsequent day of disregarding its decisions, according to which the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court should cease its activities, and in addition, all key elements of the “muzzle law” should be suspended. Polish authorities have not complied with the decisions, but so far have not paid any fines to the EU budget. In a January letter to the European Commission, the government of Mateusz Morawiecki urged Brussels to refrain from demanding payments until the reform of the disciplinary system for judges was completed.

Brussels rejects Warsaw’s appeals

Warsaw continues to convince the European Commission that the planned changes in the judiciary will mean the implementation of the CJEU’s demand (this is also a condition for payments from the KPO), although the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro publicly proclaims the opposite. The European Commission rejected Warsaw’s requests for delay in collecting penalties from the CJEU, because these are administrative or even accounting decisions in which Brussels has no room for political discretion as to whether to send requests for payment or not. The Thursday bill for Poland covers the period until January 10. And the next million euros (one for each day after January 10) will be subject to another request for payment. Even if Poland implemented the judgments of the CJEU on the courts within days, which is not expected at the moment, these amounts will not be canceled.

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The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it intends to deduct the fine for non-compliance with the CJEU’s September decision to suspend the operation of the mines from payments from the EU budget. The Polish government ignored the requests for payment made so far. For now, it is about collecting a fine for the first month only, i.e. EUR 15 million plus default interest, which currently amounts to around EUR 30,000. However, the penalty for Turów, which the CJEU imposed on Poland upon the request, is also increasing every day by another half a million euros, i.e. a total of 61 million euros, which will be deducted after subsequent payment requests.

When the European Commission, probably at the end of January, decides which specific transfers from the EU budget it intends to deduct EUR 15 million from Poland for Turów, the Morawiecki government will have 10 days to appeal against this decision. Thus, the deduction may be made even at the turn of January and February. For accounting reasons, the deductions made by Brussels may concern, for example, the Cohesion Fund or EU money for the first pillar of the agricultural policy, i.e. for direct payments to Polish farmers. The government puts out money for these subsidies from its own cash, but then the Polish authorities are compensated for these expenses by the EU budget.

“Money for the Rule of Law”

On November 19, the European Commission took Poland and Hungary under the scrutiny of the “money for the rule of law” rule. She sent letters to Warsaw and Budapest pointing to suspicion of serious defects in the rule of law that could hinder the proper management of the funds. And she asked for an explanation within two months, which is the deadline these days. Among the objections to the authorities was the issue of the Constitutional Tribunal’s decisions which strike at the primacy of EU law. The Commission is asking how Poland intends to implement detailed provisions on discipline in managing funds under such conditions.

Brussels intends to wait with possible further steps until the judgment of the CJEU, expected in February or March, on the compliance of the “money for the rule of law” provisions with EU treaties. The next possible step is “notification” of infringements of the law threatening the EU budget, from which – according to unofficial estimates – it would have to take at least six months to adopt the “measures”, ie to suspend payments from the EU budget, including the Reconstruction Fund. The Commission’s proposal to suspend payments would have to be adopted by a majority of at least 15 of the 27 EU countries representing at least 65% of the total. the population of the Union.