• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

EU Triggers Unprecedented Censure Process Against Poland

Staff Writer with AFP by Staff Writer with AFP
12/20/17
in World
Polish protesters

Thousands of Poles have protested against the controversial court reforms by the rightwing government. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The European Commission launched unprecedented disciplinary proceedings against Poland on Wednesday over its highly controversial judicial reforms which Brussels says threaten the rule of law.

In a major escalation against one of the E.U.’s biggest states, Brussels triggered article seven of the E.U. treaty over what it sees as “systemic threats” to the independence of the Polish judiciary from the nation’s right-wing government.

Never before used against an E.U. member state, the proceedings can eventually lead to the “nuclear option” of the suspension of a country’s voting rights within the bloc.

But just hours after the announcement, a defiant Polish president went ahead and signed the reforms into law.

The row underlines growing east-west tensions within the European Union, with former Soviet bloc states like Poland and Hungary refusing to toe the Brussels line on several thorny issues including judicial and media independence as well as immigration.

“It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to initiate Article 7.1. But the facts leave us with no choice,” Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told reporters.

It is with a heavy heart that we have activated Article 7(1). But the facts leave us with no choice. We have no other option. This is not just about Poland, it is about the EU as a whole. We continue to hope that we can enter into a more fruitful dialogue.

— Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) December 20, 2017

The Dutch commissioner said 13 laws adopted by Poland in the space of two years had created a situation where the government “can systematically politically interfere with the composition, powers, the adminstration and the functioning” of judicial authorities.

But Mr. Timmermans gave Warsaw three months to remedy the situation, saying Brussels could withdraw the measures if it did.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said on Twitter it was “a difficult day for Poland, but also for the E.U.” and said he would meet Poland’s new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki early next month.

E.U. President Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister and arch-rival of the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, urged Warsaw to “come to its senses” and “not seek a conflict at all cost in a case where it is simply not right.”

In response, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda accused the E.U. of “lying” about his country’s judicial reforms.

“Very many representatives of European institutions tell lies about Poland; They’re lying. They lie when they say that there are changes in Poland that lead to violations of the rule of law, because we are improving democratic standards,” Mr. Duda told Poland’s Polsat commercial television.

ShareTweet
Staff Writer with AFP

Staff Writer with AFP

Related Posts

Poland border wall
Refugees

Poland Begins Work on New EU-Belarus Border Wall

by Staff Writer
January 25, 2022
Ahmad al Hasan
Refugees

Teenage Syrian Laid to Rest by Poland-Belarus Border

by Staff Writer
November 15, 2021
Polish Court Defies EU as Critics Warn on ‘Polexit’
Democracy at Risk

Polish Court Defies EU as Critics Warn on ‘Polexit’

by Staff Writer
July 14, 2021
In World First, Polish Pharmaceutical Company Produces Plasma-Derived COVID Drug
World

In World First, Polish Pharmaceutical Company Produces Plasma-Derived COVID Drug

by Anya Ruppert
August 18, 2020
Opposition leaders wearing rainbow colors to make a statement at Duda's swearing-in ceremony.
Democracy at Risk

Polish Opposition MPs Wear LGBTQ Flag in Protest Against President Duda

by Josephine Walker
August 6, 2020
Protesters hold banners reading "Women's Strike" as they take part in protest against the Polish government plans to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention on prevention and combatting of home violence, in Warsaw, Poland on July 24, 2020.
World

Polish Government Walks Back Plans to Abandon Treaty Protecting Women

by Jonah Fox
July 27, 2020
Next Post
Police in Melbourne Australia

Car Hits Crowd in Melbourne in 'Deliberate Act,' No Evidence of Terrorism – Police

A voter casts a ballot in the Catalan independence referendum

Catalans Vote in Bid to Solve Independence Crisis

Recommended

Shireen Abu Akleh

US Says Al Jazeera Journalist Likely Shot by Israel But Not Intentionally

July 4, 2022
Google logo

Google to Pay $90 Mn in Settlement With App Developers

July 1, 2022
Mexico murdered journalists

Journalist Murdered in Mexico, 12th This Year

June 29, 2022
Spain migrants

Spain Prosecutor Opens Probe Into Melilla Migrant Deaths

June 28, 2022
Afghan refugees

Pakistani Migrants in Afghanistan Caught in Quake No-Man’s Land

June 27, 2022
Joe Biden climate summit

Biden Calls Clean Energy Matter of National Security in Face of Russia War

June 17, 2022

Opinion

US President Donald Trump

Owning the Words and the Libs

June 16, 2022
Officers in Uvalde, Texas, stand outside Robb Elementary School near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims

Child Sacrifice Makes a Comeback

June 3, 2022
A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
A man holding a gun

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

May 2, 2022
China Muslim Uyghurs

Unfair Politicization, Corruption, and the Death of Modern Olympism

April 23, 2022
Ukraine war

The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis and the Hierarchies of Western Compassion

April 20, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post