BRUSSELS, 30 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, has warned this Tuesday that Brussels will take “measures” if a law that it observes with “particular concern” goes ahead and that it has been promoted by the ultra-conservative Polish government creating a special commission to investigate and disqualify public officials whom it considers complicit in favoring Russia’s interests in recent years, a rule that critics denounce as an instrument to nullify the opposition leader and former prime minister, Donald Tusk.
In statements to the press upon his arrival at a meeting of European ministers on General Affairs, Reynders explained that the controversial law prevents those who were vetoed from holding public office to appeal the decision of the special committee through the courts, which in practice means hindering access to Justice, a right protected by the European Union.
“The European Commission will not hesitate to take action if this law comes into force and raises this series of problems,” insisted Reynders, who explained that the community response to this rule would be added to the procedure of article 7 of the EU Treaty against Poland with which systemic risks to the rule of law in the Member States are examined and allows, in the last instance, for example, to punish the offending country without the right to vote in decision-making to Twenty-seven.
Precisely this Tuesday, the European ministers will examine in detail the evolution of the article 7 procedure in Poland but also the one that affects Hungary, two countries to which both the Community Executive and the European Parliament and the Council treat the evolution of the State with concern of law.
Reynders explained that in recent months there have been contacts with Warsaw and Budapest to “try to improve the situation” regarding judicial independence but “there are still many problems” in both countries, especially with regard to the judicial system and the fight against corruption or the independence of the media.
In the Twenty-Seven debate, the ministers will have the opportunity to “ask and hear answers” from their colleagues from Hungary and Poland, said Swedish European Affairs Minister Jessika Roswall, who holds the rotating presidency of the EU until this month. June and has decided to include the debate on the situation in these two countries on the agenda.
The analysis coincides with the debate that this Wednesday will take place in the plenary session of the European Parliament on the situation of the rule of law in Hungary and the doubts about the capacity of the Government of Viktor Orbán to exercise the rotating presidency of the EU that will correspond to this Member State in the first half of 2024.
In a resolution agreed upon by the main political groups that will foreseeably be adopted there, the MEPs will ask that this rotating presidency be withdrawn from Hungary if the democratic risks are not corrected, something for which Reynders has warned that neither the European Commission nor the European Parliament have powers, since the agreed distribution of presidencies rests exclusively with the Council.
