“Money for the rule of law”. Poland does not react to the EC’s letter. “No answer is also an answer”

The two-month time for a response from the government of Mateusz Morawiecki passed last midnight (January 24/25). – It can’t go on forever. Our approach is constructive, which implies a certain readiness to wait longer for a response. But in the end, no answer will also be an answer, says Johannes Hahn, EU budget commissioner. The letter to Hungary under the “for” procedure was sent to Budapest a day later than to Warsaw, so the deadline for a reply is not until the following midnight. What if Poland and Hungary now ask for a postponement? – I don’t want to speculate now. But it can’t be a never-ending story, says Hahn.

“Money for the rule of law” step by step. What will Brussels do?

The purpose of the letters to the Polish and Hungarian authorities was – from a formal point of view – to gather information before the next steps in Brussels under the “money for the rule of law” procedure. EU regulations in this matter allow for skipping this stage, so if the governments of Morawiecki and Orban did not finally respond to the European Commission, it would not stop the entire procedure based on linking budget payments with compliance with the rule of law.

The next step is an official “notification” of the alleged violations, from which, according to unofficial estimates, it would take at least six months to adopt the “measures”, ie to suspend payments from the EU budget, including the Reconstruction Fund.

It cannot be ruled out that Brussels would wait until the judgment – expected on February 16 – on the compliance of the entire procedure with the EU treaties. The Polish side has not yet commented on the delay in responding to the Commission.

The European Commission has many reservations. Bad rule of law, corruption suspicions

In its November letters to Warsaw and Budapest, the European Commission pointed to suspicions of serious defects in the rule of law, which may hinder the proper management of funds. Four groups of reservations were mentioned in the letter to the Polish authorities.

One concerns the impact of two decisions of the Constitutional Tribunal Przyłębska 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.

The second problem is undermining the independence of the judiciary, because it is independent courts that play a key role in deterring and punishing scams with EU money.

The third case concerns doubts as to the “effectiveness and impartiality of the prosecutor’s office”, which reports to the prosecutor general who is also the minister of justice (ie Zbigniew Ziobro). This raises concerns about the reliability of prosecuting, for example, corruption, in which people related to the authorities could be involved.

The fourth group of reservations concerns the ineffectiveness of prosecution activities. The Commission makes the argument of “institutionalized corruption”, ie high-level suspicions that are not properly prosecuted for political reasons. The Commission requested a list of cases since 2016 that the Polish prosecutor’s office has discontinued, has not commenced or is still conducting proceedings in cases indicated by OLAF, ie the “EU NIK”.

There will be the first installment deduction for Turów. Poland will pay EUR 15 million plus interest

Commissioner Hahn confirmed today that the European Commission is gearing up to soon withhold the first installment of fines for the Turów mine. It is about Poland’s refusal to comply with the September decision of the CJEU to suspend the operation of this mine as part of a “temporary measure” requested by the Czech Republic. The Polish government ignored the requests for payment to date. – The deductions cannot affect the final beneficiaries of EU funds in Poland, because it is a government error, not those beneficiaries – says Hahn. He explains that the deduction is now “mechanical in nature”, ie the money for the penalty will be deducted from one of the next transfers from the EU budget for Poland.

For now, it is about collecting a fine for the first month only, ie EUR 15 million plus late delay interest, which currently amounts to around EUR 30,000. However, the penalty for Turów, which the CJEU imposed on Poland at the request of the Czech Republic, increases every day by another half a million euros, i.e. a total of 61 million euros, which will be deducted after subsequent payment requests.

Commissioner Hahn emphasizes that in the current 7-year budget plan for Poland – under various funds – about EUR 130 billion in subsidies, of which as much as 53-55 billion is allocated to “green goals”, i.e. “green” investments and modernization related to .in. with the energy transformation in Poland. In the past, the European Commission has repeatedly declared its readiness to support green changes, including under the Just Transition Fund, also in the case of Turów.