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Acting on EU recommendations would breach constitution, says Poland

PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea 04.11.2016 12:43
The Polish government has sent a letter to the European Commission saying it does not see any legal possibility of implementing its recommendations on the rule of law.
The European Commission's headquarters at the Berlaymont building, Brussels. Photo: Wikimedia commons/Sebastien Bertrand.The European Commission's headquarters at the Berlaymont building, Brussels. Photo: Wikimedia commons/Sebastien Bertrand.

The letter sent last week was obtained by the PAP news agency. It says that acting on the recommendations by the European Commission would "result in authorities breaching the constitution” and that “Poland sees no legal possibility" of implementing them.

Amid a constitutional crisis in Poland, the European Commission in July urged Warsaw to respect rulings by the country's Constitutional Tribunal, issuing a set of recommendations and giving Warsaw three months to comply.

In response, the Polish government wrote that when allegations of posing a "systemic threat to the rule of law" are directed towards an EU member state, that country “has the right to expect the institutions formulating it to fulfill the obligation of particular diligence and care”.

The letter added that hoping for “an objective and constructive dialogue with the European Commission”, Poland “regrets that these principles were not complied with while preparing the recommendations”.

A statement released by the Polish foreign ministry said that the government’s response to the European Commission addressed the issue “in great detail”.

“As a result, we have concluded that we had no choice but to assess the Commission Recommendation of 27 July 2016 as groundless. Poland wishes to emphasise once again that the ongoing political dispute over the rules governing the work of the Constitutional Tribunal cannot form the basis for claiming that there is a systemic threat to the rule of law in Poland.

"The Polish government hopes that the explanations it has presented in its response to the recommendation will be thoroughly analysed and understood by the European Commission.”

The comments are the latest chapter in an ongoing row between Warsaw and EU politicians who have accused Poland’s conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party of eroding democracy and rights since coming to power last year. PiS has denied such charges.

Three-month deadline

A three-month deadline for Warsaw to provide a response to the European Commission expired last week. At the time Prime Minister Beata Szydło declared that Poland would reply to the EU’s executive body “in due time”.

She added that “for us it is incomprehensible for the legal changes we are introducing in Poland, in accordance with Polish legislation, to be constantly undermined”.

The commission said in July it believed that there was “a systemic threat to the rule of law in Poland”.

It called on the Polish government to publish the Constitutional Tribunal’s December judgments on the nomination of judges, alongside a March ruling, when the court said changes pushed through at the end of last year by PiS prevented the tribunal from working “reliably and efficiently”. (rg/pk)

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