To be put to the vote in plenary session, this text against the executive of the European Union prepared by the Dutch Sophie in’t Veld, the former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and the Spaniard Luis Garicano, vice-president of the group Renew (to which the French delegation LREM belongs), will first have to collect the signatures of at least one tenth of the MEPs (i.e. 70 parliamentarians).
If Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, “continues to refuse to apply seriously the rules of conditionality on the rule of law”, which aim to condition the payment of European funds on strict respect by Member States of fundamental rights , “we are withdrawing our support,” said Mr. Verhofstadt.
The Commission on Wednesday gave the green light to the Polish recovery plan of 35.4 billion euros, blocked for more than a year because of shortcomings alleged in Warsaw in terms of judicial independence.
However, the three leaders of Renew consider the Warsaw announcements insufficient, including the lifting of the suspension of a judge and the vote in the Polish Parliament for the abolition of the disciplinary chamber supposed to control the judges, which paved the way for the green light from Brussels.
The conditions requested by the Commission “fall short of what was required by the European Court of Justice (CJEU), and do not respond to the Polish authorities’ refusal to recognize the primacy of EU law”, while Warsaw “shows no intention (…) to fully restore the independence of the judiciary”, stings Sophie in’t Veld, accusing Ms von der Leyen of having “created a major political problem”.
During the vote within the Commission, two heavyweights of the European executive, the Danish Margrethe Vestager (Renew Europe, centrist) and the Dutchman Frans Timmermans (S&D, social democrats), both executive vice-presidents, were opposed to the validation of the Polish plan.
“The Commission is aware that the solutions announced by the Polish authorities are purely cosmetic,” said Guy Verhofstadt indignantly in a letter to his political group, consulted by AFP.
To be adopted in Parliament, a motion of censure must be approved by two-thirds of the votes cast.
Contacted, officials and spokespersons of different groups (Greens, S&D, Renew and EPP – pro-European right and first force in Parliament), reserved their position before meetings scheduled for the afternoon in Strasbourg.
Iratxe Garcia Perez, president of S&D, however, called last week for any disbursement to be refused before Poland meets “all the conditions” set by the CJEU, while the Greens expressed their “serious concerns”.