The European Parliament has again demanded that the European Commission activate against Poland the new mechanism to protect the community budget and that could lead to the freezing of the funds allocated to this country, especially after the ruling of the Polish Constitutional Court that calls into question the primacy of EU law over the national Magna Carta.
This decision is upheld due to the ruling of the Polish Constitutional Court declaring several articles of the Treaty on European Union unconstitutional. Thus, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen , has emphasized her “concern about this ruling” against the European Union and has stated through a written statement that she will use ” all her powers to ensure that Poland applies EU rules’.
On the other hand, they have not yet set a specific date with which to start the actions with which they will pressure Poland for its “drift”. They should first study the opinion carefully. “The Commission cannot set exact deadlines for how long it will take because that depends on the complexity of the ruling,” said Von der Leyen’s spokesman.
The president also said that “our highest priority is to ensure that the rights of Polish citizens are protected and that Polish citizens enjoy the benefits of membership of the European Union, as do all citizens of our Union.” In this way, he explained that “our treaties are very clear”, and Von der Leyen has warned that “all judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union are binding on the authorities of all Member States, including national courts.
The presidents of the Budgetary Control commissions, Monika Hohlmeier; Legal Affairs, Adrián Vázquez, and Civil Liberties, Juan Fernando López Aguilar , who represent the three main groups of the Hemicycle; They have called on Brussels in a joint statement to launch the procedure that has been available to them since January of this year.
“With this ruling, Poland unfortunately says goodbye to our European legal order. If European legal acts are no longer accepted, it is questionable whether Poland can still benefit from the huge amounts of EU funding it receives, “said the former, MEP of the European People’s Party (EPP).
In the opinion of Ciudadanos representative Adrián Vázquez, the Polish Constitutional ruling is a “direct” attack on the principles and values of the EU, as well as that the “seriousness” of the situation “requires a quick reaction from the European institutions.” “Now it is more urgent than ever to activate the conditionality mechanism,” he added.
For MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar “the decision of a Constitutional Court that is subordinate to the PiS Government crosses a last line of belonging to the EU.” ” We ask the Commission to apply the conditionality mechanism of the rule of law with immediate effect and initiate infringement procedures against Poland,” he emphasized.
Even before the decision of the Constitutional Court was known, the Community Executive had already announced that it would send in the coming weeks the first notifications to Poland – and also to Hungary – to activate this mechanism due to its totalitarian drift, although without yet including the concrete measures to adopt.
Once remitted, Brussels would initiate a formal dialogue with the Polish authorities that could lead to the freezing of European funds if Warsaw does not take action. The mechanism provides for the suspension of aid from traditional programs, such as Cohesion, but also from recovery funds.
Application for aid
Poland, in particular, has requested from the European Commission under the latter a total of 36,000 million euros , of which 23,900 million would be in direct transfers and 12,100 million would be loans . The Polish plan, like the Hungarian, has not yet been approved by the EU, precisely because of the doubts generated by its attacks on the rule of law.
Both Poland and Hungary brought this mechanism before the Court of Justice of the EU (TEU) because they believe that it is directed specifically against them and they consider that it is not legal. Brussels has assured several times that it will not use it until the verdict of the Luxembourg court is known.
This Friday, a day after the ruling of the Polish Constitutional Court was known, the head of the Community Executive, Ursula von der Leyen , has affirmed that she will assert “all the powers” available to the institution she presides over to defend the primacy of the Law of the EU in Poland.
However, Brussels is reluctant to advance what are the legal tools available to face this crisis and insists that it will not advance its steps until it has analyzed “in detail and in an orderly manner” the ruling of the Polish Constitutional Court.
