The EU must now balance supporting Poland on border security with keeping up the pressure on judicial matters
’s new covid-19 recovery fund to bankroll its ambitious infrastructure and social-welfare plans. But that fund has a clause that blocks the money until the commission certifies that recipient countries comply with the rule of law. The commission could attach a list of specific conditions to Poland’s grants.
On November 15th Iustitia, an organisation of independent Polish judges, put out a proposal to restore the rule of law, including implementing all thecountries will press for such conditions, notably the Netherlands, which insisted on the rule-of-law clause. But Germany is more reluctant.
The commission may now postpone action on the rule of law in Poland until the border calms down. Failing to show solidarity could turn Poles against theand weaken their prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, a relative moderate and rival of Mr Ziobro. But a complete rollback of the government’s control over the judiciary is likely only ifloses the next election in 2023, says Stanislaw Biernat, a former judge on the constitutional court.
As for the migrants, they are losing hope that anyone will help them. As one put it, “The Poles will never have mercy on us, nor will the Belarusians have mercy on us. We are stuck between them.”This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Borderline case"
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