Warsaw has been at loggerheads with Brussels ever since — in December 2015 — the Polish Government added five "politically friendly" judges to the country's Constitutional Tribunal, in a move seen by critics as making it easier to push through legislation with less opposition.
The amendment meant that the tribunal would need a two-thirds majority to take a decision on constitutional matters instead of a simple majority. The minimum number of judges needed to make a decision was also raised from nine to 13, making it more difficult to convene a quorum.
As well as undermining the rule of law, the gov't of #Poland has spent
— Amnesty EU (@AmnestyEU) October 27, 2016
its first year in power eroding #humanrights https://t.co/N1OG1Xjd8E pic.twitter.com/Mk6ujHFW2i
Despite a series of amendments and additions since, Warsaw was given a three-month warning, July 27, to make changes to its constitutional court or be threatened — for the first time ever — to invoke Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, which would lead to Poland being suspended from any vote in the European Council. The three-month period ended, October 27, with no such action.
Fiscal Feud
Now a further row is brewing over Poland's fiscal policies. All EU countries must maintain a deficit of three percent of GDP or lower, otherwise they will be subject to the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP), which Poland was until June 2015.
Now, however, the Warsaw Government has decided to cut a retail tax, another on banks, and lower the retirement age, in the face of spiraling welfare costs, pensions and rising public sector wages.
Put simply: Poland is spending more than it is earning, which will stifle growth and likely put it in breach of the three percent deficit rules, meaning it will have to face sanctions, as early as 2017.
Poland is already one of the most vociferous opponents of the EU plan to relocate migrants from Greece and Italy to member states according to a mandatory quota system, so this latest development will add still to the continuing standoff between Brussels and Warsaw.
However, Poland is not alone. Both Spain and Portugal faced sanctions over breaching the three percent deficit rule and escaped, when Brussels feared such a move would stoke growing anti-EU sentiment.
Poland is also not the first country in the EU to stand up against the Brussels machine. As time goes on, it seems to have increasingly similar tendencies to the United Kingdom, which delivered the biggest smack in the face to Brussels it has ever known.
