"This is entirely the responsibility of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, but we will appeal this decision because we want to use every legal option to recover the money for Poland," said Adam Szłapka, the current Minister for EU Affairs, on Wednesday.
He stated that the government would seek legal strategies to increase the chances of a successful appeal but acknowledged that "the situation will be very difficult," as Poland's total loss due to the previous government's stubbornness over the Disciplinary Chamber amounted to €500 million.
"The law establishing the Disciplinary Chamber in the Supreme Court was passed with 233 votes from PiS lawmakers, meaning each of them bears personal responsibility for about €2 million," Szłapka pointed out.
In 2021, the EU's top court ordered Poland to suspend its Disciplinary Chamber, but the government refused, leading to a daily €1 million fine, later reduced to €500,000 in 2023. Poland has challenged the EU Commission's deduction of these fines from its allocated funds, arguing that penalties should have stopped after the chamber was officially dissolved in July 2022.
On Wednesday, the EU General Court, a lower instance of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), ruled that the deduction of approximately €320,2 million in fines from Poland was legally justified. Poland has two months and ten days from the date of notification to appeal the decision.
According to Polish MEP and lawyer Michał Wawrykiewicz, the €320 million fine (nearly 1.4 billion PLN) for PiS's violations of the rule of law was correctly deducted by the European Commission. He believes that Polish society should hold right-wing politicians like Zbigniew Ziobro, Mateusz Morawiecki, and Jarosław Kaczyński accountable for the cost.
Source: IAR/PAP/X/@adamSzlapka/@MicWawrykiewicz/@EUCourtPress
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