The European Commission sent Poland six formal notices to pay the outstanding daily fine for failing to comply with the EU Court of Justice’s decision obliging Poland to dismantle the newly-established and highly-criticised Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, Polish media report.

According to the Commission and the EU Court, the disciplinary chamber may serve as a tool to persecute judges critical of the government.

“€174 million will be deducted” from the EU funds allocated for Poland if the country continues to refuse to pay the imposed fines, RMF FM was informed by European Commission spokesman Christian Wiegand.

Also read: Commission won’t halt €1 million daily non-compliance fine for Poland

The Polish authorities dissolved the Disciplinary Chamber and replaced it with a new Professional Liability Chamber, which did not solve the whole problem and did not result in the Commission revoking the fine.

In November 2022, the Polish government appealed to the Commission to stop issuing fines, arguing that by dismantling the Disciplinary Chamber, it implemented the reforms to comply with the EU Court’s ruling.

Still, the court’s Vice President Lars Bay Larsen said the “measures adopted by Poland are insufficient to ensure the execution of all the provisional measures” the court had requested. Consequently, the fine has been reduced from €1 million per day to €500,000.

While Bay Larsen recognised that Poland did implement some changes, he added that others, including a Polish Supreme Court decision allowing for judges to be prosecuted or arrested, have yet to be suspended, he wrote.

The EU Court’s decision concerned not only the Disciplinary Chamber itself but the whole system of disciplining judges, Igor Tuleya, a judge suspended by the Disciplinary Chamber in a decision later overturned by the Professional Liability Chamber, told Onet news outlet last month.

The fines have been collected since 3 November 2021.

The dunning notice concerns the period between October 2022 and April 2023 until the fine was slashed. Its charging will end on 5 June, when the EU Court is to issue the final ruling on the Polish disciplinary system for judges.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)

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