20 November 2020

As a member of various international and European organisations, Poland is bound by the requirement to respect the rule of law so as to effectively fulfil its commitments and ensure sincere cooperation between all member states.

The crisis of the rule of law in Poland endangers the proper functioning of the international organisations Poland belongs to. That risk depends directly on the level and scope of integration and the importance of mutual commitments.

The European Union has not sufficiently used its tools to combat the crisis. While judicial measures employed by the Court of Justice effectively prevented the situation from getting worse, political tools, such as Article 7(1), have been watered down and require improvements.

It is highly recommended that international bodies, most importantly the European Union, realise the fact that time is of the essence when it comes to deal with the rule of law crisis in Poland. Since infringement actions before the Court of Justice have been the most efficient measures so far, it is important that other tools facilitate them by providing up-to-date and reliable evidence, also covering new developments in Poland.