'80 percent' chance of Poland resolving spat with EU

Published on 05/04/2018 - 18:11•Updated 18:28

Warsaw's under pressure over its controversial justice reforms, which critics say undermine democracy

Could an end be in sight? The leader of Poland's ruling PiS party has said there's an "80 percent" chance the Warsaw could soon resolve its spat with the European Commission over its controversial overhaul of the justice system.

Jarosław Kaczyński says in a magazine interview, "We're currently planning to implement changes that we had earlier agreed on with the European Commission." And that it's "necessary to bring the situation back to normal."

Critics say the judicial reforms undermine democracy. Warsaw is also at odds with Brussels over other issues, including migration.

Article 7

In December the European Commission took the unprecedented step of triggering Article 7.

That could see Poland losing its voting rights in the EU, but Hungary has vowed to stand in the way of that.

Last month, Brussels dismissed Warsaw's defence of its court reforms. Vice Commissioner Frans Timmermanns said there was agreement that the White Paper was not "not the answer to the Commission's recommendations."

Talks in Poland

Timmermanns will be in Poland next week for talks, aimed at averting the so-called 'nuclear option.'

After a long-running feud between Warsaw and western EU states, Poland's new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has reopened dialogue with Brussels.

But Warsaw has been maintaining that its reforms pose no risk to the rule of law and that the overhaul is led by the need to improve efficiency and accountability - by removing judges who served in the post World War 2 communist government.

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