Poland-EU legal battle spirals

A HIGH-STAKES legal battle between Poland and the EU has escalated into a political crisis, setting off an internecine fight between the bloc’s institutions, as leaders debate withholding billions in EU money over concerns that Warsaw is violating democratic norms.

The conflict was supercharged this month when Poland’s top court ruled that the national constitution trumps some EU laws – a direct challenge to the connective tissue of treaties and agreements that holds the 27-member club together.

The move has forced EU leaders to once again confront an existential question: How should a bloc built on liberal values respond when one of its members backslides on democracy?

“This is a much bigger crisis than the euro crisis, Brexit or the migration crisis, because it undermines the whole foundation of the European Union,” said Heather Grabbe, director of the Open Society European Policy Institute. “And it also undermines democracy, because you can’t have democracy without rule of law.”

The issue is threatening to overshadow this week’s summit of European presidents and prime ministers, which began yesterday. After clamouring from several member states, the subject of rule of law was added to the meeting’s agenda at the last minute, while some leaders have openly criticized their Polish counterpart and are calling for a forceful response.

For years, EU leaders have regularly registered their disappointment as eastern members backed away from their democratic commitments. They have issued stern words as Poland constrained judicial and media independence.

But those member countries have often looked to the EU less as a beacon of democracy than as a means of expanding economic opportunities, according to the bloc’s own opinion surveys.

And so many EU leaders have begun to embrace money – and the threat of cutting it off – as their most effective tool against democratic backsliding. Already, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is holding up about $42 billion (R609bn) in grants and loans to Poland from its coronavirus recovery fund, and last month it asked the European Court of Justice to impose daily fines on Warsaw for defying its rulings.

After the latest provocation, some European leaders and good government advocates want the commission to go further by invoking a new and never-before-used tool that allows the EU to block budget funds for states that fail to uphold the rule of law, which could freeze billions more bound for Poland, the largest recipient of the bloc’s money.

The tension was on full display earlier this week, at a hearing of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where lawmakers clashed with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to take more action.

Morawiecki struck a defiant tone. Speaking for 35 minutes, the Polish leader said his country was being “attacked” and he accused the EU of blackmail for considering withholding funds. “It is unacceptable to talk about financial penalties,” Morawiecki said. “We heard even worse language as it relates to some member states.

“I reject the language of threats and I will not have EU politicians blackmail Poland.

“If you want a supranational state in Europe, first, why don’t you ask and get consent from all these sovereign member states?” Morawiecki said.

Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has long assumed a mediator role between Central and Western European countries in rule of law spats, cautioned the EU last week against withholding the money, instead encouraging “in-depth” dialogue with the Polish government.

She said it was “saddening” that the European Parliament was pursuing a lawsuit against the commission and said it would probably be fruitless.

“We are all member states of the European Union,” Merkel said, “which means we have the duty always to try to find compromise – without giving up our principles, obviously.”