Poland's response to an EU warning that it must reverse controversial judicial reforms does not resolve concerns the government is undermining the legal system, a top EU official said Thursday. In increasingly tense exchanges, the European Commission gave Warsaw a month from July 26 to end measures posing a "systemic threat" to the rule of law or face sanctions, including possibly losing its vote as a member state in the bloc.
European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans told MEPs however that "the Polish reply does not announce any concrete measures to address the issues raised by the Commission." "I cannot tell you today what will be the next step of the Commission, we have to discuss it," Timmermans added. He told the civil liberties committee of the European Parliament that the rule of law was the bedrock of the European Union, ensuring equal treatment for all across the 28 member states.
The Polish government had shown it did not share these values by pressing ahead with its changes to the judiciary, jeopardising legal certainty in Poland, he said. Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski responded on Thursday by accusing Timmermans of going beyond his remit and politicising the issue.
"Mr Timmermans some weeks ago announced publicly at a press conference that this is his personal ambition and mission to monitor Poland," he said during an official trip to Budapest. "So I think he decided to go beyond the prerogatives of the international official or eurocrat of a European institution," and started a political campaign against Poland, he added.