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Poland Turns Up the Heat on Brussels in Dispute Over Law, Economy

© REUTERS / Kacper PempelA woman holds the Polish national flag as she takes part in a march demanding their government to respect the country's constitution in Warsaw, Poland, March 12, 2016.
A woman holds the Polish national flag as she takes part in a march demanding their government to respect the country's constitution in Warsaw, Poland, March 12, 2016. - Sputnik International
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The Warsaw Government is setting itself further down the path a bruising encounter with the European Union as it fails to meet the end-of-October deadline for amending its constitutional court changes, as demanded by Brussels, and is now facing further sanctions over fiscal policy breaches.

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.

​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.

© REUTERS / Kacper PempelPoland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo meets with Frans Timmermans, deputy head of the European Commission at the Prime Minister Chancellery in Warsaw, Poland May 24, 2016.
Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo meets with Frans Timmermans, deputy head of the European Commission at the Prime Minister Chancellery in Warsaw, Poland May 24, 2016.  - Sputnik International
Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo meets with Frans Timmermans, deputy head of the European Commission at the Prime Minister Chancellery in Warsaw, Poland May 24, 2016.

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.

A group of people wait to get accommodation at the entrance of a camp for refugees and migrants in the Belgrade suburb of Krnjaca, Serbia, September 21, 2016. - Sputnik International
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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.

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