ECJ Court imposes a penalty of € 1 million a day on Poland for not dissolving the Disciplinary Chamber for Judges
The European Union’s (E.U.’s) top court – the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ordered Poland to pay a daily fine of € 1 million (U.S. $ 1.2 million) a day for not suspending a controversial Disciplinary Chamber for Judges, which violates the E.U. rules.
The ECJ imposed the penalty as Poland failed to comply with an earlier order of the E.U. issued in July 2021 to immediately halt the activities of the chamber. The penalty comes into effect from Wednesday, October 27, 2021.
The Disciplinary Chamber for Judges is one of the judicial reforms that was recently introduced by Poland. The Disciplinary Chamber allows judges to be punished for the content of their verdicts. This has been highly condemned by ECJ as it undermines judicial independence and exerts political control over judicial decisions.
A statement from ECJ read, “In the ruling issued today, the Vice-President of the Tribunal obliged Poland to pay… a penalty payment of EUR 1 million per day, counting from the date on which this ruling was delivered to Poland.”
Taking it to twitter, the official Press Service of ECJ tweeted,
#ECJ Vice-President orders #Poland to pay a daily fine of €1m for not suspending national legislation relating, in particular, to the jurisdiction of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court #RuleOfLaw
— EU Court of Justice (@EUCourtPress) October 27, 2021
👉https://t.co/ATb3CgbPxg
The ECJ observed that the move was necessary to avoid serious and irreparable harm to the legal order of the E.U. and to the values on which that Union is founded.
The European Commission had given time till August 16, 2021, to dissolve the system or else face penalties for violation of E.U. terms. The Prime Minister of Poland – Mateusz Morawiecki had earlier said it will dissolve the Disciplinary Chamber for Judges but he didn’t give any timeline.
Meanwhile, several E.U. leaders have said that European Commission should not release € 57 billion (U.S. $ 66 billion) to Poland which it was supposed to get under the Resilience and Recovery Fund (RRF) of E.U. meant to help Member States to fight the financial woes of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Reacting to the order, the Spokesperson for Government of Poland – Piotr Muller tweeted (translated in English), “The Polish government publicly spoke of the need to introduce changes in this area that would ensure its effective functioning. The way of punishments and blackmail towards our country is not the right way. This is not a model in which the European Union should function – a union of sovereign states.” Original tweet in Polish:
Polski rząd publicznie mówił o konieczność dokonania zmian w tym obszarze, które zapewnią jego efektywne funkcjonowanie. Droga kar i szantażu wobec naszego kraju to nie jest właściwa droga. To nie jest model,w którym powinna funkcjonować Unia Europejska – unia suwerennych państw.
— Piotr Müller (@PiotrMuller) October 27, 2021
The Deputy Justice Minister of Poland – Sebastian Kaleta also tweeted (translated in English), “What a gibberish in the morning. The Treaties do not mention the notion of independence and independence in a single provision, especially they do not entrust the CJEU with tasks in this area. On the other hand, the Polish constitution does, that is, your entire entry is based on an invention, a wish, and not almost.” Original tweet in Polish:
Co za bełkot z rana. Traktaty w ani jednym przepisie nie przywołują pojęcia niezawisłości i niezależności, tym bardziej nie powierzają TSUE zadań w tym obszarze. Za to polska konstytucja tak, czyli cały ten Pani wpis oparty jest na wymyśle, życzeniu, a nie prawie. https://t.co/iu9rF2rcQn pic.twitter.com/xFb4bpVZdE
— Sebastian Kaleta (@sjkaleta) October 28, 2021
The ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS) Party of Poland has said that E.U. is overstepping its mandate by trying to stop its judicial reforms. Besides there have been fears of Polexit – Poland leaving the E.U. due to the rising tensions between them. However, Poland has denied any such plans.
Separately, ECJ had earlier imposed a penalty of € 500,000 a day for having ignored its injunction to close the Turow brown coal mine. Poland argues it cannot do without the 7% of its energy that the Turow power plant is generating.
