EU ramps up pressure on Poland

The Parliament and the Commission feel the government hasn’t made enough concessions.

The European Parliament passed a resolution Wednesday pressing the Polish government to solve its constitutional crisis within the three-month deadline set by the European Commission on July 27.

Passed by a margin of 510 votes to 160 with 29 abstentions, the symbolic resolution found that there is still a “systemic risk to the rule of law” in Poland. It’s the latest step in Brussels’ attempt to bring Warsaw to heel in a long-running dispute over the shape of the country’s highest constitutional court.

The unprecedented procedure launched against Poland by the Commission could theoretically end with the country having its voting rights as an EU member suspended.

The Polish government has made some concessions, but those still far short of the Commission’s demands.

“At this stage, the dispute concerning the composition and the judgments of the constitutional of the tribunal remains unresolved,” Frans Timmermans, the deputy head of the Commission, told the Parliament on Tuesday.

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The fight broke out late last year, when Poland’s newly elected Law and Justice party government refused to seat five judges appointed to the Constitutional Tribunal by the previous government. Law and Justice then elected and swore in five judges of its own. However, the tribunal’s president declined to seat three of them.

The right-wing government also pushed through a series of changes to the tribunal’s rules, which critics said were directed at limiting its ability to vet government legislation. The tribunal twice found those rule changes to be unconstitutional, but the government has refused to acknowledge the verdicts.

The feud has already led thousands to take to the streets in anti-government demonstrations and has strained Poland’s relations with the Commission and with allies like the U.S.

In a statement summarizing their vote, MEPs said the actions of the Polish government “endanger democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law in Poland,” referring in particular to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.