The Polish government announced that European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans is set to visit Warsaw, Poland on April 9

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans will visit Warsaw on April 9, the Polish government said Thursday, amid conflict over Poland's controversial court reforms.

"His visit is a continuation of the ongoing impartial and fact-based dialogue between Poland's government and the European Commission," government spokeswoman Joanna Kopcinska told AFP.

She added that Timmermans had been invited to the Polish capital by Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.

According to the Polish news agency PAP, the talks will mainly revolve around the court reforms that led the European Union to launch unprecedented legal action against Warsaw.

Brussels in December triggered Article 7 of the EU treaty over what it sees as "systemic threats" to the independence of the Polish judiciary from the country's right-wing government -- a move that could lead to never-before-used sanctions.

Poland had three months to reply to the EU's concerns. Last week the foreign ministry said it had met the deadline, without specifying the contents of its response.

A lawmaker from the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, Marek Ast, however announced that a draft law would be introduced to slightly modify the reforms.

The opposition denounced the changes as merely cosmetic.

Timmermans said last week that the EU's executive arm will analyse Warsaw's response before ministers meet again next month to assess whether "steps forward were made or not".

The stakes are high if Warsaw fails to satisfy Brussels.

It could be stripped of voting rights in the bloc under the Article 7 procedure -- covering systemic threats to the rule of law -- which had never been previously used against an EU state.

However, Poland's ally Hungary, which has also clashed with Brussels over democracy issues, has vowed to veto any sanction. </s> European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans will visit Warsaw on April 9, the Polish government said Thursday, amid conflict over Poland's controversial court reforms.

"His visit is a continuation of the ongoing impartial and fact-based dialogue between Poland's government and the European Commission," government spokeswoman Joanna Kopcinska told AFP.

She added that Timmermans had been invited to the Polish capital by Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.

According to the Polish news agency PAP, the talks will mainly revolve around the court reforms that led the European Union to launch unprecedented legal action against Warsaw.

Brussels in December triggered Article 7 of the EU treaty over what it sees as "systemic threats" to the independence of the Polish judiciary from the country's right-wing government -- a move that could lead to never-before-used sanctions.

Poland had three months to reply to the EU's concerns. Last week the foreign ministry said it had met the deadline, without specifying the contents of its response.

A lawmaker from the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, Marek Ast, however announced that a draft law would be introduced to slightly modify the reforms.

The opposition denounced the changes as merely cosmetic.

Timmermans said last week that the EU's executive arm will analyse Warsaw's response before ministers meet again next month to assess whether "steps forward were made or not".

The stakes are high if Warsaw fails to satisfy Brussels.

It could be stripped of voting rights in the bloc under the Article 7 procedure -- covering systemic threats to the rule of law -- which had never been previously used against an EU state.

However, Poland's ally Hungary, which has also clashed with Brussels over democracy issues, has vowed to veto any sanction. </s> Poland and the European Union are now engaged in a "genuine dialogue" toward ending a row over Polish reforms Brussels fears undermine judicial independence, a top EU official said Wednesday.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans welcomed talks he had Monday with the right-wing government in Warsaw and said he was "encouraged" by changes to the reforms Poland's parliament was debating.

"I am glad that we are now in a genuine dialogue," Timmermans told a news conference in Brussels.

"I see willingness of the Polish government to find a solution," the Dutchman said. "I hope we can make substantial steps forward in the days and weeks to come."

Brussels on December 20 launched unprecedented legal action against Warsaw over "systemic threats" to the independence of the Polish judiciary, and gave it three months to say how it will comply.

Warsaw handed Brussels a reply on March 20, which the commission is now studying.

Timmermans called for ending the two-year-long standoff "as quickly as possible" when he met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Foreign Minister Jacek Jacek Czaputowicz and others in Warsaw on Monday.

"This is actually for me the first time that in Warsaw we actually went to the concrete discussion about the issues," Timmermans said upon returning to Brussels.

He said the "Polish government has a vision" about how to resolve the differences with Brussels.

He said the goal is to "find solutions so that there is no longer a systemic threat to rule of law in Poland," rejecting the notion of a compromise.

"We have seen that in the Polish parliament over the last days and weeks some changes and amendments have been introduced and I was encouraged by some of them," he said.

For example, he said he understands that the parliament no longer supports a difference in the retirement age between male and female judges.

"If that than becomes law that is already a good step in right direction," Timmermans said.

The stakes are high if Warsaw fails to satisfy Brussels.

It could be stripped of its voting rights in the bloc under the Article 7 procedure of the EU treaty -- covering systemic threats to the rule of law -- which had never been previously used against an EU state.

However, Poland's ally Hungary, which has also clashed with Brussels over democracy issues, has vowed to veto any sanction. </s> BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union executive on Tuesday dismissed Poland’s latest defense of court reforms that critics say weaken democracy, potentially paving the way for more clashes with Warsaw after weeks of some rapprochement.

Poland, the biggest ex-communist EU state, stands accused of subjecting its courts to more government control since the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party won power in late 2015.

The bloc has threatened unprecedented punishment, including of suspending Warsaw’s vote, if Poland does not restore the democratic checks and balances.

The European Commission’s deputy head, Frans Timmermans, debated the matter with EU ministers meeting in Brussels after Poland published a “white paper” defending the judicial changes.

The Commission has given Poland until Tuesday to restore the rule of law, or risk proceedings under the so-called Article 7 punishment mechanism.

“There was agreement across the table that this white paper is not the answer to the Commission’s recommendations,” Timmermans told a news conference after the meeting, adding that EU ministers would discuss the matter again next month.

“If this idea that you have the right to reform the judiciary... is understood as the right to put it under political control, then we have a problem.”

Warsaw says it was led by the need to improve efficiency and accountability by removing judges who served in the post-World War Two communist government, which collapsed in 1989.

Speaking to reporters after the ministerial session in Brussels, Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski reiterated the reforms posed no risk to the rule of law.

Warsaw has until the end of the day to come up with a formal answer to the Commission.

Poland’s state news agency PAP quoted the response as saying Warsaw rejects the criticism and refuses to retract the laws, but is ready to assess jointly with the Commission the results of the changes.

After a two-year feud between Warsaw and the more liberal, western EU states, Poland’s new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has reopened dialogue with the Brussels-based European Commission on the matter.

But Germany’s EU minister Michael Roth on Tuesday said Poland, which may risk losing billions of euros in EU handouts as an indirect consequence of the dispute, must not just play for time.

“Talking for talking’s sake is not enough and I hope that today... will give a clear signal that EU members support the European Commission in this essential matter,” Roth said.

The top sanction of stripping Poland of its voting rights is all but certain not to materialize as Warsaw’s ally Hungary - where the eurosceptic Prime Minister Viktor Orban has plenty of his own clashes with the EU - has vowed to block it.

But the sole fact that the EU has been debating it, albeit reluctantly, for months now causes damage to Poland’s reputation and highlights its growing isolation in the EU.

The bloc lacks hard tools to force Warsaw back into line on the courts specifically.

But, as ties between Poland and the wealthier net payers to the EU’s joint coffers sour, it raises the risk that they would retaliate by stripping Warsaw of some funding in bloc’s the next, long-term budget from 2021.

Speaking in Warsaw on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel hoped Poland’s ruling nationalists would satisfy Europe’s concerns. Morawiecki responded that he hoped for a deal over the coming two months. </s> WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A top European Union official said Monday that a change of government in Warsaw has led to better dialogue as the two sides seek to resolve a dispute over an overhaul of the court system in Poland.

However, Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the European Commission — the body that enforces EU laws — said there is still no agreement.

“For too long we didn’t have a dialogue, we just exchanged letters,” Timmermans said.

But a change of government at the start of the year “led to a change of atmosphere in our relationship and it has allowed us to — not that we immediately agree — but it allowed us to have a dialogue, an open and frank dialogue.”

Since Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party won elections in 2015 it has passed laws that give it much greater control over the judicial system. The Commission considers that the changes as a whole violate the democratic principle of separation of powers.

Late last year EU leaders triggered a sanctioning procedure, Article 7, against Poland, a step that could lead the central European country to be stripped of its voting rights.

Officials in Warsaw fear that even if it doesn’t lose its voting rights it could very well lose the massive EU subsidies that the ex-communist country still relies on.

In Warsaw, Timmermans met with top judges and political leaders, including Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz. Those ministers got their jobs as part of the government shakeup, which was aimed at improving dialogue with the EU. </s> BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union's executive branch has launched a complaint alleging Poland has limited judicial independence in the country in violation of EU laws.

The European Commission said Saturday it sent a "letter of formal notice" to Poland to raise concerns that the independence of Polish courts will be undermined by the new "discretionary" powers the overhaul gives the country's justice minister.

The commission says it is especially concerned the justice minister now is entitled to extend the mandates of judges and to dismiss and appoint court presidents.

People demonstrate, outside the office of the ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, holding banners with the images of from left, financier George Soros ,President of the European Council Donald Tusk and First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, during a protest, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, July 26, 2017. The European Union's executive remains open to triggering sanctions against Poland for limiting judicial independence despite the Polish president's veto of parts of a controversial legal overhaul, a top EU official said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Warsaw has one month to reply to the notice warning it is infringing on EU laws. The commission may then take further steps.

The Euroskeptic Polish government has said that reforming the justice system is an internal Polish matter.

FILE- In this Thursday, July 20, 2017 file photo, leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski votes to approve a law on court control, in the parliament in Warsaw, Poland. The leader of Poland's ruling party says the government intends to "decentralize" the media after it completes an overhaul of the judicial system that the European Union has denounced as violating democratic norms. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz, File)

People raise candles as they attend a daily protest against judicial reforms in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, July 27, 2017. The leader of Poland's ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, says the government intends to "decentralize" the media after it completes an overhaul of the judicial system that the European Union has denounced as violating democratic norms. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

A Polish national flag waves as people hold candles during a daily protest against judicial reforms in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, July 27, 2017. The leader of Poland's ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, says the government intends to "decentralize" the media after it completes an overhaul of the judicial system that the European Union has denounced as violating democratic norms. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz) </s> BRUSSELS: The European Union's executive on Wednesday said it hoped for a deal "very soon" in a fundamental dispute with Poland over judicial independence and sources said mid-May could be a key date.

After two years of a standoff between the bloc's largest ex-communist member and the more liberal founding states, Poland's ruling nationalists brought in a new prime minister at the turn of the year to seek a thaw with Brussels.

The EU has begun to see Poland, where the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party stands accused of imposing more direct government control on the judiciary, as a test case for the bloc.

Poland also stands to lose because some EU members have pushed to make access to EU funding conditional on respecting democratic values such as the rule of law and judicial independence.

Poland is the biggest beneficiary of EU development aid and wants to keep the money flowing to make up for decades of communist malaise.

This year Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has hence held a series of talks with the European Commission aiming for a deal.

After visiting Poland last Monday, the Commission's deputy head, Frans Timmermans, sounded more upbeat than previously over the row, which started after PiS won power in late 2015.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, Timmermans praised the "very, very intensive talks" he had in Warsaw and commended Morawiecki for engaging in "genuine dialogue".

"It is in the interest of all of us that in none of our member states there should be a systemic threat to the rule of law. So we are working constructively in the hope of finding solutions very soon," Timmermans said.

Timmermans, formerly a Dutch foreign minister, will update EU states on Tuesday.

Sources said the decisive moment comes on May 14, when the bloc's European affairs ministers are due to decide whether concessions offered by PiS go far enough to take off the table a threat to punish Warsaw through a procedure that could go as far as suspending its vote in the bloc.

At the heart of the dispute lie PiS changes to the judiciary that, among other things, give the justice minister powers to replace court presidents. Under amendments now proposed by PiS, the minister would have to consult other judges before deciding on sacking a court head.

Timmermans also said it was positive that a new compulsory retirement age for judges would be the same for men and women. PiS had initially set it at 65 years for men and 60 for women.

"We need to see deeds, these new ideas being put firmly into law. Otherwise no one will believe it," said one EU diplomat, who also stressed that Timmermans' boss, Jean-Claude Juncker, was very eager to move on from the row.

Poland's chief power broker and PiS head, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, recently put the chances of a deal with Brussels at 80 percent and said it would come "soon".

After Warsaw insisted the judicial overhaul was needed to make courts more effective and rid them of a communist legacy, he said Poland was paying a "bitter" price to end the row.

He also said he was drawing on lessons from Warsaw's chief ally in the EU, the eurosceptic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has offered some concessions over the years as the EU sounded alarm that he was cracking down on critical media and non-government groups. </s> BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s executive on Wednesday said it hoped for a deal “very soon” in a fundamental dispute with Poland over judicial independence and sources said mid-May could be a key date.

After two years of a standoff between the bloc’s largest ex-communist member and the more liberal founding states, Poland’s ruling nationalists brought in a new prime minister at the turn of the year to seek a thaw with Brussels.

The EU has begun to see Poland, where the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party stands accused of imposing more direct government control on the judiciary, as a test case for the bloc.

Poland also stands to lose because some EU members have pushed to make access to EU funding conditional on respecting democratic values such as the rule of law and judicial independence.

Poland is the biggest beneficiary of EU development aid and wants to keep the money flowing to make up for decades of communist malaise.

This year Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has hence held a series of talks with the European Commission aiming for a deal.

After visiting Poland last Monday, the Commission’s deputy head, Frans Timmermans, sounded more upbeat than previously over the row, which started after PiS won power in late 2015.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, Timmermans praised the “very, very intensive talks” he had in Warsaw and commended Morawiecki for engaging in “genuine dialogue”.

“It is in the interest of all of us that in none of our member states there should be a systemic threat to the rule of law. So we are working constructively in the hope of finding solutions very soon,” Timmermans said.

Timmermans, formerly a Dutch foreign minister, will update EU states on Tuesday.

Sources said the decisive moment comes on May 14, when the bloc’s European affairs ministers are due to decide whether concessions offered by PiS go far enough to take off the table a threat to punish Warsaw through a procedure that could go as far as suspending its vote in the bloc.

At the heart of the dispute lie PiS changes to the judiciary that, among other things, give the justice minister powers to replace court presidents. Under amendments now proposed by PiS, the minister would have to consult other judges before deciding on sacking a court head.

Timmermans also said it was positive that a new compulsory retirement age for judges would be the same for men and women. PiS had initially set it at 65 years for men and 60 for women.

“We need to see deeds, these new ideas being put firmly into law. Otherwise no one will believe it,” said one EU diplomat, who also stressed that Timmermans’ boss, Jean-Claude Juncker, was very eager to move on from the row.

Poland’s chief power broker and PiS head, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, recently put the chances of a deal with Brussels at 80 percent and said it would come “soon”.

After Warsaw insisted the judicial overhaul was needed to make courts more effective and rid them of a communist legacy, he said Poland was paying a “bitter” price to end the row.

He also said he was drawing on lessons from Warsaw’s chief ally in the EU, the eurosceptic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has offered some concessions over the years as the EU sounded alarm that he was cracking down on critical media and non-government groups. </s> The European Union has launched legal action against Poland’s government over a controversial new law that could undermine the independence of the country’s courts and give the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) too much influence over them.

The commission said in a July 29 statement that it has sent a letter of formal notice to Warsaw following the publication of the law in Poland.

The EU took issue with the law because it introduced different retirement ages for female and male judges, which is a breach of EU antidiscrimination laws.

“The new rules allow the minister of justice to exert influence on individual ordinary judges through, in particular, the vague criteria for the prolongation of their mandates, thereby undermining the principle of irrevocability of judges," the European Commission said in its statement.

The statement said Poland’s right-wing government had one month to respond to the commission's concerns.

Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans sent a letter on July 28 to Poland's foreign minister reiterating an invitation to him and the justice minister to meet in Brussels to relaunch dialogue.

Timmermans said on July 26 that the commission could trigger Article 7, a legal process of suspending Poland's EU voting rights, if Warsaw went ahead with plans to undermine the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa
The Polish government announces a planned visit for April 9 from European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans. The government of Poland and the European Union are locked in a dispute over planned judicial reforms.