The European Commission then announced it would hold Wednesday’s “orientation debate”, invoking its “Rule of Law mechanism” which gives Brussels the power to discipline member states found to have subverted EU rights standards.
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Timmermans said that “binding rulings” by Poland’s constitutional court were not being respected by the new eurosceptic government “which I believe is a serious matter in any rule of law dominated state”.
At the weekend thousands of Poles protested in major Polish cities, with large crowds in Warsaw, Lodz, Poznan, and Szczecin demanding the new laws be dropped. It has also passed a law giving it direct control over the appointment of public media chiefs.
The debate among the 28 members of the European commission will focus on “the situation in Poland and the EU rule of law framework”.
The Polish government insists the changes are perfectly consistent with the rule of law and that Brussels should mind its own business.
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has insisted that the executive will not engage in “bashing Poland” and some diplomats have warned that a perceived attack from Brussels could strengthen domestic support for PiS and the government.
Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo Wednesday called on the country’s centrist opposition to join her conservative government in presenting a united front against what she called “slander” from overseas.
Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro asked Timmermans to “exercise more restraint” and criticized him for a “lack of knowledge” about the court reforms, arguing that they sought to redress a previous bias in the system, in a response dated January 11.
He added that measures taken to increase control of the state broadcaster by the new, nationalist-led government in Warsaw also raised “issues relating to freedom and pluralism in the media”.
Relations have nosedived since the PiS party swept back to power in October after eight years in opposition, promising a much harder line on the European Union and immigrants.
She said plans are being made for her to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in coming weeks.
The split is just the latest in an European Union sharply divided by a host of problems ranging from Greece’s near eurozone exit to the continent’s biggest migration crisis since World War II.
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Poland government spokesman Rafal Bochenek played down the decision, saying it was a standard procedure that did not influence Poland’s relations with the European Commission.
