Poland is under fire for regularly intervening in the judiciary. Unpleasant judges are fired, replaced by government-friendly judges and can even be prosecuted by a specially equipped disciplinary chamber. Brussels therefore started proceedings against the country and stopped the payment of European subsidies and the billions for Poland from the corona recovery fund.
But on that last point, Brussels has finally come to an end: the European Commission has agreed to transfer the 36 billion euros in gifts and loans that Poland could receive, despite resistance from some commissioners. “That really worries me,” says D66 MP Van Weyenberg. “We are talking about the core of the rule of law,” MP Omtzigt points out. “These are extremely serious violations of the rule of law.”
‘Historical error’
“Really a historic mistake”, adds GL’er Van der Lee. “This is a really significant threat to the European Union as a whole.” Van Weyenberg therefore wonders what the ‘force field’ is in which the European Commission decided to give the green light. Poland, for example, is opposed to introducing a minimum tax for companies and also plays an important role within Europe in the reception of Ukrainian refugees. The House wonders whether Brussels will therefore also accommodate Poland.
The member states of the European Union must all give the green light themselves to transfer the billions to Poland. The cabinet will make its assessment at the end of this or the beginning of next week. “We are very much aware of the dilemmas that you have also touched upon,” said Minister Kaag (Finance). “It will never be an easy judgment.” She also points out that the Brussels corona billions, for which reforms were demanded to claim them, do not solve all the problems of EU countries at once: “You would prefer to take away all those worries in one fell swoop, but the honest story is that that is not possible.”