Yahoo – AFP,
26 July 2017
The EU will "immediately" take steps to halt Poland's voting rights in the bloc if it pushes through with controversial reforms of the country's top court, European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans said Wednesday.
Protesters demonstrate in front of the Polish Supreme Court in Warsaw on July 23, 2017 |
The EU will "immediately" take steps to halt Poland's voting rights in the bloc if it pushes through with controversial reforms of the country's top court, European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans said Wednesday.
Timmermans
said he welcomed the fact that Polish President Andrzej Duda had vetoed two
judicial reforms introduced by the right-wing government, including the Supreme
Court overhaul, but noted that two other laws had already been passed.
"The
commission's recommendation asks the Polish authorities not to take any measure
to dismiss or force the retirement of supreme court judges. If such a measure
is taken the commission is ready to immediately trigger the Article 7
procedure," Timmermans said.
Article 7
is a never-before-used EU process that is designed to uphold the rule of law, a
so-called "nuclear option" that can freeze a country's right to vote
in meetings of EU ministers.
Polish
President Andrzej Duda unexpectedly vetoed two controversial court reforms
|
Dutchman
Timmermans said that Brussels was still putting Warsaw on notice amid continuing
fears that the Polish government's reforms could jeopardise the independence of
the judiciary.
"In
this past week some things have changed in Poland -- and some things have
not," Timmermans said after European Commissioner met to discuss the issue
for the second week in a row.
"We
must acknowledge and welcome that President Duda has announced his decision to
veto two of the four laws," he said.
"However
the fact that two of the four laws have been signed, and that work will
continue on the other two, means that we must set out clearly our concern"
in a fresh legal recommendation, he added.
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