EU Commission to debate new Polish laws

Democracy concerns spark new debate

BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Monday it would examine the impact of laws pushed through by Poland’s new right-wing government amid growing concerns for democracy and the rule of law in the EU’s largest eastern member.

Since winning an election last October, the Law and Justice party (PiS), which advocates higher state spending, conservative Catholic values and Euroscepticism, has moved to put Polish public TV and radio broadcasters under direct government control and to change the makeup of the constitutional court.

The court changes prompted public protests, rattled investors and drew accusations from rights activists that PiS is undermining democratic checks and balances in a country long seen as a bulwark of economic and political stability in Europe.

PiS strongly denies such charges.

Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a regular news briefing in Brussels that the EU executive would hold a "political debate" on Jan 13 on the rule of law in Poland.

Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, responsible for the digital economy and society, said on Sunday Warsaw should be put under the EU’s rule of law supervision, a three-step procedure that could end up with the suspension of Poland’s voting rights within the 28-nation bloc.

The rule of law supervision framework was adopted in 2014 to deal with "systemic threats" to EU values.

It was created amid concerns over judicial independence in two other former communist member states, Hungary and Romania.

Spokesman Schinas said the planned discussion on the changes in Poland did not amount to a first step in the rule of law procedure.

Under that mechanism, the Commission raises its concerns with the relevant EU member state if it deems there is a systemic threat to the rule of law there.

It can give the country a deadline for addressing its concerns.

Should that fail, the EU executive arm can resort to the "nuclear option" of suspending the country’s voting rights.

This has never happened before and would require the backing of at least 16 of the 28 member states that together represent at least 65 percent of the bloc’s population.

The PiS government accuses the opposition, strongly pro-EU centrists it ousted in last year’s election, of orchestrating the protests and criticism from Brussels.

Poland’s former centrist prime minister Donald Tusk now heads the European Council, which groups the national leaders.

The Council of Europe, a 47-nation human rights body that is separate from the EU but works closely with it, said on Monday it had received a complaint from four media freedom organisations over Poland’s new media law, which must still be signed by the country’s president to enter into force.