Warsaw, July 16 : A new law that entered into force in Poland has abolished the controversial Disciplinary Chamber of the country’s Supreme Court — a move that is expected to pave the way for Warsaw to receive billions of euros in European Union (EU) funds.
The Disciplinary Chamber was established in 2017 as part of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party’s judicial reforms.
The European Commission has repeatedly called on Poland to eliminate the chamber, which has been accused of jeopardising the country’s judicial independence, and has ordered Poland to pay a fine of one million euros ($1 million) per day as long as it operates.
Due to the dispute over the chamber, the Commission also withheld billions of euros in post-pandemic financial support earmarked for the country, Xinhua news agency reported.
The new legislation was proposed by Polish President Andrzej Duda in February.
According to the local commercial news channel TVN24, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday that he was confident that the elimination of the chamber would meet the terms of his country’s agreement with the EU and that the funds would be released by the end of this year.
However, the EU has raised doubts over whether the changes will meet its demands. Earlier this month, European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said the new legislation did not “fulfil recovery plan milestones”.
In June, the EU approved Poland’s 35-billion-euro recovery plan, but said that the country would still need to demonstrate that it meets the “milestones” related to the independence of its judiciary.(IANS)