Poland abides very well by EU rules - PM
Poland is a country that abides very well by the principles of the family of European countries, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday when asked if Poland would respect the ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU).
The PM declared: "We're working for the good of Poland and Poles."
In early August, Poland's Supreme Court (SN) sent five questions to the CJEU concerning government amendments to its own regulations, which cut the retirement age for SN judges to 65 from 70. The court also suspended the questioned regulations until the CJEU's response in the matter.
The CJEU can rule on the matter or decline to do so on the grounds that the questions fall outside its remit. Theoretically, a third option is that the court decides the questions are answered by an earlier ruling.
The Polish Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it had sent a further two questions to the CJEU on the subject of judicial independence. The SN also requested expedited treatment of the issue.
In addition to the SN's questions, the European Commission has also turned to the European court over an alleged breach of EU law by Poland. The EC believes that the law on the SN breaks EU rules because it breaches the independence of the judiciary, including the irremovability of judges. In mid-July the EC moved on to the next stage in the procedure, giving the Polish government one month to correct the situation. Warsaw dismisses the EC's claims.
PM Morawiecki drew attention to the fact that there are countries including Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Greece that do not implement CJEU rulings. "We are very good students in this area, within the family of European countries," the PM asserted. "We are a country that abides very well by the rules."
He added that "some people are confused by the notion of Europeanness." "We stress that the fight for a higher minimum wage, the fight for the standard of living in Poland to be European, for life to be on the European level in 5-10-15 years, that is how I see our main priorities, our main tasks."
The head of government stated that the ruling camp "defines Europeanness in this way, rather than that someone basks in someone's glow, shows themselves in pictures with some famous person from the EU, or shakes a commissioner's hand. Those things don't really impress us - we're working for the good of Poland and Poles," the PM concluded. (PAP)
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