If the election push hadn’t been underway, the KPO funds might already be released. In a televised discussion, Marcin Przydacz, head of the International Policy Office at the President’s Chancellery, urged the Constitutional Tribunal to address this case promptly, suggesting that a quicker resolution could set the process in motion in the weeks or months ahead. This statement was made on TVN24 and reflects a broader push to stabilize funding as Poland navigates EU conditions.
The EC’s political leverage
The Prime Minister spoke about the blocked KPO funds during a Brussels briefing, saying that the current pre election atmosphere acts as a catalyst for the European Commission to influence political outcomes. He contended that without the political campaigning, the funds might have moved forward sooner.
According to him, the European Commission has political influence on Poland’s situation, a point he emphasized during the discussion.
Responding to a moderator who noted that had President Andrzej Duda not sent the Supreme Court reform to the Constitutional Tribunal, the Commission might have disbursed the funds, Przydacz replied that he was unsure what the Commission would do in that scenario.
Joint appeal to the Constitutional Tribunal
Przydacz added that the European Commission has assured that once the law takes effect, it will reach a milestone in the field of justice. Yet he warned that in the Commission there could be later recollections about a minor footnote on page 64. He urged that the parties appeal together to the Constitutional Tribunal to resolve the matter quickly and perhaps kickstart the process. If not in the next weeks, then in the following months, he said while addressing the leader.
When asked what would happen if the Constitutional Tribunal shared the president’s doubts about the law, Przydacz noted that the Tribunal consists of independent judges, so predicting their decision is not possible. If the Tribunal aligns with the president’s arguments, talks with the European Commission would naturally resume. The President has voiced objections to the bill, and it is prudent to await the Court’s ruling, Przydacz noted.
Amendment to the Supreme Court law
Earlier this year, President Duda referred the proposed amendment to the Constitutional Tribunal as a pre emptive check. Law and Justice lawmakers, who authored the reform, argued that its passage is essential for Poland to access EU resources from the Reconstruction Fund under the KPO after the COVID pandemic. The amendment transfers the responsibility for disciplinary and immunity cases from the Supreme Court’s Professional Liability Chamber to the Supreme Administrative Court, among other changes.
In his submission to the Constitutional Court, the President asked the court to examine the constitutionality of several provisions related to judicial independence and the transfer of disciplinary and immunity cases to the Supreme Administrative Court. The motion also questioned rules allowing requests to reopen completed disciplinary and immunity proceedings and the 21 day vacatio legis provided by the amendment.
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“Has he forgotten his own words?” Trzaskowski challenged PiS, accusing them of aiming to turn Poland into an open air economic museum. A strong response followed in a video segment.
olk/PAP
Citations point to coverage from wPolityce.