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Poland asks EU to halt rule-of-law fines, minister says

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Poland requested the European Union to suspend the €1 million per day fines imposed by its top court for Warsaw's failures to implement a court order regarding judicial reforms, a Polish minister said on Friday (4 November).

After Poland failed to dissolve the disciplinary chamber for judges, which Brussels claimed was politicised, the fine came down just over a decade ago.

The current fines amount to €370 million, approximately €270m of which was already deducted from funds Poland might have received from the EU.

Although Warsaw has replaced the chamber with another body, critics claim that the problem of judges' independence not being protected has not been solved.

"We have filed a motion for suspension of the imposition of sanctions after the CJEU's (Court of Justice of the European Union), ruling on the Disciplinary Chamber," Szymon Szynkowski vel sek, Poland's EU affairs minister, told private broadcaster Polsat News.

Szynkowski Vel Sek stated that the request included "strong arguments" regarding the changes in the disciplinary system of judges.

The European Commission in Brussels, an EU executive, stated that it had received a similar request back in June from Poland.

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"Back then we assessed that although we had seen progress on some specific issues, not all obligations... have been fully addressed by (Poland’s) new law (its Supreme Court)," stated Christian Wigand who was a spokesperson for the Commission.

The shape of Poland's Chamber of Professional Responsibility in Poland has been taking shape since June. President Andrzej Duba appointed 11 judges in September to the body and its head in Oct.

Wigand stated that the European Commission would "carefully analyze" the new letter in order to determine if there are any developments in Poland that indicate the country is now fully compliant with the decisions of the European Court of Justice.

Wigand stated that Poland would continue to pay the court's fines until this is accomplished.

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