German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann stressed the importance of restoring the rule of law during a visit to Warsaw on Tuesday, as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk currently faces backlash in his efforts to overhaul the country’s legal system.
Upon taking office in December, Tusk (KO, EPP) set about undoing the controversial judicial reforms of the previous government, led by the Law and Justice Party (PiS), which the EU said undermined the rule of law.
With this, Tusk has nevertheless stirred up political turmoil in the country, with President Andrzej Duda, who remains loyal to PiS, intervening to block key measures and even attempting to protect two PiS MPs from getting arrested.
Referring to this current state of affairs in Poland, Buschmann (FDP, Renew) lent public support to Tusk’s mission during a speech in Warsaw on Tuesday, stressing the importance of upholding and restoring the rule of law.
“Democracy and freedom are only possible if there are fundamental rights and an independent judiciary to keep power in check,” Buschmann told an audience at Warsaw University.
Preserving such values sometimes requires “moments when those responsible must once again bestow this blessing [of the rule of law] on the state – by mutual agreement, constructively and visibly for all citizens”, he said.
In a thinly veiled reference to the ongoing political fallout, Buschmann warned that maintaining the rule of law requires “a willingness to de-escalate on the part of all [actors]”.
He noted that protecting the right to challenge those in power would also benefit the opposition.
Before his speech, Buschmann had met for the first time with his Polish counterpart, Adam Bodnar, who is spearheading Tusk’s efforts to reform the Polish judiciary.
Though Germany’s relationship with Poland has been strained during the previous PiS rule in recent years, it is hoped that, with Tusk, things will change.
Tusk expects EU recovery funds soon
Meanwhile, Tusk’s government expects to receive €20 billion in EU recovery funds soon, as the European Commission has frozen the payment due to rule-of-law concerns.
Before the end of the year, his government hopes to receive as much as €18.5 billion under the National Recovery Plan (KPO), which includes €10.5 billion in loans and €8 billion in grants, according to the cabinet’s plan obtained by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
In the first half of 2025, it is hoped that Poland will receive an additional €12.7 billion – which, along with the sum for 2024, would amount to €31.2 billion or about half of the €59.8 billion Poland will receive under half of the National Recovery Plan.
The first tranche is spent on innovations, digitisation of enterprises, creating nurseries for children, and increasing road safety, among other things.
However, for the European Commission to unfreeze the payments, Poland must deliver on several milestones that were previously agreed upon with the Commission. These conditions mainly focus on the judicial system, the elimination of potential risk for the EU budgetary interest resulting from the defective state apparatus, and shortcomings regarding the separation of powers in the country.
But while the Commission rejected the previous government’s draft law to reform the disciplinary system for judges in the run-up to last year’s elections in a bid to reach one the Commission-imposed milestones, PiS believes Brussels’ decision to freeze funds is driven by a preference for Tusk’s government.
“The Commission is openly supporting the Tusk government. (…) It is an extremely partisan institution,” PiS MEP Ryszard Legutko told Euractiv.
During his visit to Warsaw last week, EU Commissioner Didier Reynders said he hoped the Commission would soon be able to positively assess Poland’s request for the first tranche of funds, submitted last month.
Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar said the government’s aim was not just to meet the milestones and receive the funds but, above all, to “restore the rule of law for Polish citizens”.
(Nick Alipour | Euractiv.de, Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)
