WARSAW (Reuters) – The European Union’s top court has halved the daily fine imposed on Poland in a dispute over judicial reforms to 500,000 euros, it said on Friday, adding that Warsaw had “to a large extent” implemented the reforms it required.
Poland’s nationalist government is embroiled in a long-running row with Brussels over judicial reforms that critics say undermine the independence of the courts, a resolution of which is key to unblocking billions of euros in withheld funding.
In 2021 the EU’s top court ruled that Poland’s system for disciplining judges was incompatible with the bloc’s laws and then imposed a daily fine of 1 million euros ($1.10 million) for Warsaw’s failure to implement its ruling that the disciplinary chamber for judges be dissolved.
Poland has now dissolved the chamber and replaced it with a new body, although critics say the core problem of the politicisation of the judiciary remains unsolved.
“The Vice-President (of the Court of Justice of the European Union) considered that the measures introduced by Poland… may, to a large extent, ensure the implementation of the interim measures indicated in the decision of July 14, 2021,” the court said in a statement.
A Polish government spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
($1 = 0.9120 euros)
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Frances Kerry)
