The EU’s difficult steps in ensuring judicial reform in Poland

Good morning. My topic this week is Poland and the link between the rule of law there and the EU’s access to Covid recovery funds. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, get in touch – you can reach me at tony.barber@ft.com.

On a personal note, modern Poland has been close to my heart ever since I visited Warsaw, Gdańsk and Kraków as a student in the summer of 1980 and witnessed with my own eyes the peaceful uprising. peace against communism gave birth to the Solidarity movement.

Then in the 1980s, I lived in Warsaw and reported on such grim events as murder by security police of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, a celebrated Solidarity priest, as well as moments of glory such as the establishment of the first government in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 led by non-communists since the end of the war. second world war.

So I went through the ups and downs of Poland’s national story. Like many other friends of the country, I have been uneasy in recent years that the Right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government has wiped out Poland’s books as star performer on the region’s post-communist transition by challenging the EU on the rule of law.

This confrontation lies at the heart of a difficult decision facing European leaders this week. The EU finance ministers yesterday approved a planning for a gradual release 35.4 billion euros in post-pandemic recovery fund for Poland.

The decision hinges on the balance between pragmatism and principle that EU policymakers are trying to strike in their dealings with Poland.

It’s a good thing that reflects how, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Poland has been in the news for all the right reasons – and for all the wrong reasons.

On Monday, Daniel Freund, a German member of the European Parliament, put it like this:

No country in the European Union has shown more solidarity with Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression than Poland. And no government in the EU has acted more violently against the basic institutions of the rule of law since the start of the war than the Polish government.

Few Europeans would disagree with the first part of Freund’s statement. But the second part, a clear condemnation of Poland for its abuse of the rule of law, contrasts with the more pragmatic stance of Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.

At the beginning of this month, she and the majority of her fellow commissioners agreed Poland’s post-pandemic recovery plan. This would bring 23.9 billion euros in EU subsidies and 11.5 billion euros in loans to Poland, provided the country meets various conditions, or so-called “major milestones.” on judicial independence and the rule of law.

In a sign of discontent at senior levels, Margrethe Vestager and Frans Timmermans, two experienced commissioners, are said to have voted against the decision – and a third, Didier Reynders, also had reservations. This week, several Western European governments clarified their suspicions.

Have strongly oppose in the European Parliament as well. With 411 votes to 129 votes with 31 abstentions, the EU legislature voiced “serious concern” about the commission’s move.

Finally, many judges, prosecutors and legal experts in Poland and across Europe doubt that the “milestones” set for the PiS government are meaningful enough to guarantee profit to the rule of law standards to which the EU intends to apply.

You have to admit, Poland is playing its cards skillfully. As EU leaders consider their options, the PiS government has signaled that it will lift its objection for a Brussels initiative on a global minimum corporate tax rate.

This will go well for France, whose relations with Poland were not so smooth during the PiS era.

It not long ago Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, suggested that President Emmanuel Macron’s contacts with Vladimir Putin resemble those with Adolf Hitler. Macron lashed out at him, referring to Morawiecki (most unfairly, I think) as a far-right anti-Semitist.

More broadly, Russia’s attack on Ukraine and Poland’s pivotal position in the Western response to it have boosted Warsaw’s prestige and influence – at least in military and diplomatic matters – to the highest level since the country joined the EU in 2004. I recommend This great analysis by Aleks Szczerbiak, professor of politics at the University of Sussex.

So Poland will probably start receiving EU recovery money – if it hits its milestones. What do you think? Should EU leaders release funds to Poland? Vote in our poll here.

Notable, quotable

The idea that a prime minister can to any extent knowingly break his own rules is an insult – Lord Christopher Geidt, former ethics adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in his resignation letter

Lord Geidt, who on Wednesday became the second ethics adviser to resign under Johnson’s premiership, has complained about his “impossible and obnoxious” position

Tony’s picks of the week

• Most of the world’s empires fell apart during the 20th century. Alexander Etkind, a Russia-born history professor at the European University Institute in Florence, thinks a similar fate could befall the Federation. Russia, in an article in the Moscow Times