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Poland rejects EU concerns over rule of law

PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk 22.12.2016 11:24
The Polish Foreign Ministry on Thursday said concerns about a systemic threat to the rule of law in Poland are unwarranted but added that Warsaw is open to "objective dialogue" with the European Commission.
Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Photo: Gnesener1900/Wikimedia CommonsPolish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Photo: Gnesener1900/Wikimedia Commons

The Foreign Ministry said the Polish government will review a new set of recommendations by the European Commission and reply within two months.

The comments came a day after the Commission said that the appointment of a new head at Poland’s top court was “fundamentally flawed” and called on Warsaw to reverse changes to the country’s Constitutional Tribunal.

The Commission gave Warsaw two months to reply.

The Polish Foreign Ministry said that recently adopted changes to the law on the Constitutional Tribunal are in line with European standards.

President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday appointed a candidate backed by Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party as the new head of the Constitutional Tribunal, which has been locked in a struggle with the government.

Shortly afterwards, the Commission said it considers the procedure which led to the appointment of judge Julia Przyłębska to the post as “fundamentally flawed as regards the rule of law.”

The Polish Foreign Ministry said: "In connection with the appointment by the President of a new President of the Constitutional Tribunal on 21 December, we consider that the political dispute over the Tribunal has been ended.”

It added: “In the face of these new facts, we consider the European Commission maintaining that there is a systemic threat to the rule of law in Poland is all the more unwarranted. We hope that our explanations will be understood by the European Commission.”

(pk)

Source: PAP

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