BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s executive on Wednesday said it hoped for a deal “very soon” in a fundamental dispute with Poland over judicial independence and sources said mid-May could be a key date.

After two years of a standoff between the bloc’s largest ex-communist member and the more liberal founding states, Poland’s ruling nationalists brought in a new prime minister at the turn of the year to seek a thaw with Brussels.

The EU has begun to see Poland, where the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party stands accused of imposing more direct government control on the judiciary, as a test case for the bloc.

Poland also stands to lose because some EU members have pushed to make access to EU funding conditional on respecting democratic values such as the rule of law and judicial independence.

Poland is the biggest beneficiary of EU development aid and wants to keep the money flowing to make up for decades of communist malaise.

This year Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has hence held a series of talks with the European Commission aiming for a deal.

After visiting Poland last Monday, the Commission’s deputy head, Frans Timmermans, sounded more upbeat than previously over the row, which started after PiS won power in late 2015.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, Timmermans praised the “very, very intensive talks” he had in Warsaw and commended Morawiecki for engaging in “genuine dialogue”.

“It is in the interest of all of us that in none of our member states there should be a systemic threat to the rule of law. So we are working constructively in the hope of finding solutions very soon,” Timmermans said.

Timmermans, formerly a Dutch foreign minister, will update EU states on Tuesday.

Sources said the decisive moment comes on May 14, when the bloc’s European affairs ministers are due to decide whether concessions offered by PiS go far enough to take off the table a threat to punish Warsaw through a procedure that could go as far as suspending its vote in the bloc.

At the heart of the dispute lie PiS changes to the judiciary that, among other things, give the justice minister powers to replace court presidents. Under amendments now proposed by PiS, the minister would have to consult other judges before deciding on sacking a court head.

Timmermans also said it was positive that a new compulsory retirement age for judges would be the same for men and women. PiS had initially set it at 65 years for men and 60 for women.

“We need to see deeds, these new ideas being put firmly into law. Otherwise no one will believe it,” said one EU diplomat, who also stressed that Timmermans’ boss, Jean-Claude Juncker, was very eager to move on from the row.

Poland’s chief power broker and PiS head, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, recently put the chances of a deal with Brussels at 80 percent and said it would come “soon”.

After Warsaw insisted the judicial overhaul was needed to make courts more effective and rid them of a communist legacy, he said Poland was paying a “bitter” price to end the row.

He also said he was drawing on lessons from Warsaw’s chief ally in the EU, the eurosceptic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has offered some concessions over the years as the EU sounded alarm that he was cracking down on critical media and non-government groups.</s>BRUSSELS: The European Union's executive on Wednesday said it hoped for a deal "very soon" in a fundamental dispute with Poland over judicial independence and sources said mid-May could be a key date.

After two years of a standoff between the bloc's largest ex-communist member and the more liberal founding states, Poland's ruling nationalists brought in a new prime minister at the turn of the year to seek a thaw with Brussels.

The EU has begun to see Poland, where the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party stands accused of imposing more direct government control on the judiciary, as a test case for the bloc.

Poland also stands to lose because some EU members have pushed to make access to EU funding conditional on respecting democratic values such as the rule of law and judicial independence.

Poland is the biggest beneficiary of EU development aid and wants to keep the money flowing to make up for decades of communist malaise.

This year Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has hence held a series of talks with the European Commission aiming for a deal.

After visiting Poland last Monday, the Commission's deputy head, Frans Timmermans, sounded more upbeat than previously over the row, which started after PiS won power in late 2015.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, Timmermans praised the "very, very intensive talks" he had in Warsaw and commended Morawiecki for engaging in "genuine dialogue".

"It is in the interest of all of us that in none of our member states there should be a systemic threat to the rule of law. So we are working constructively in the hope of finding solutions very soon," Timmermans said.

Timmermans, formerly a Dutch foreign minister, will update EU states on Tuesday.

Sources said the decisive moment comes on May 14, when the bloc's European affairs ministers are due to decide whether concessions offered by PiS go far enough to take off the table a threat to punish Warsaw through a procedure that could go as far as suspending its vote in the bloc.

At the heart of the dispute lie PiS changes to the judiciary that, among other things, give the justice minister powers to replace court presidents. Under amendments now proposed by PiS, the minister would have to consult other judges before deciding on sacking a court head.

Timmermans also said it was positive that a new compulsory retirement age for judges would be the same for men and women. PiS had initially set it at 65 years for men and 60 for women.

"We need to see deeds, these new ideas being put firmly into law. Otherwise no one will believe it," said one EU diplomat, who also stressed that Timmermans' boss, Jean-Claude Juncker, was very eager to move on from the row.

Poland's chief power broker and PiS head, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, recently put the chances of a deal with Brussels at 80 percent and said it would come "soon".

After Warsaw insisted the judicial overhaul was needed to make courts more effective and rid them of a communist legacy, he said Poland was paying a "bitter" price to end the row.

He also said he was drawing on lessons from Warsaw's chief ally in the EU, the eurosceptic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has offered some concessions over the years as the EU sounded alarm that he was cracking down on critical media and non-government groups.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s executive on Wednesday said it hoped for a deal “very soon” in a fundamental dispute with Poland over judicial independence and sources said mid-May could be a key date.

Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, March 22, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

After two years of standoff between the bloc’s largest ex-communist member and the more liberal founding states, Poland’s ruling nationalists brought in a new prime minister at the turn of the year to seek a thaw with Brussels.

The EU now sees Poland, where the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party stands accused of imposing more direct government control on the judiciary, as a test case for the bloc.

Warsaw also stands to lose because some EU members, taken aback by the PiS moves, have pushed to make access to future EU funding conditional on respecting democratic values such as the rule of law and judicial independence.

Poland is currently the biggest beneficiary of EU development aid and wants to keep the money flowing to make up for decades of communist malaise.

This year Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has hence held a series of talks with the European Commission aiming for a deal.

The head of PiS and Poland’s chief power broker, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, recently put the chances of a deal with Brussels at 80 percent and said it would come “soon”.

Sources said a special Kaczynski envoy, Adam Bielan, also held back-channel talks in Brussels with Martin Selmayr, the top aide of the head of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.

A senior Polish government source said a deal with Brussels was important for PiS because talks on the next EU budget, from 2021, are now gathering speed, and local elections are due.

PiS rivals have criticized the government for straining ties with the EU, and the source told Reuters an agreement with the bloc “would take away the arguments from the opposition.”

“The coup would be so big that more concession are possible, though of course they would not change the essence of the (court) reforms,” the person said under condition of anonymity. “The society is pro-European.”

After visiting Poland last Monday, the Commission’s deputy head, Frans Timmermans, sounded more upbeat than previously over the row, which started after PiS won power in late 2015.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, Timmermans praised the “very, very intensive talks” he had in Warsaw and commended Morawiecki for engaging in “genuine dialogue”.

“It is in the interest of all of us that in none of our member states there should be a systemic threat to the rule of law. So we are working constructively in the hope of finding solutions very soon,” Timmermans said.

DEEDS, NOT WORDS

The former Dutch foreign minister will update other EU states on Tuesday.

Sources said the decisive moment comes on May 14, when the bloc’s European affairs ministers are due to decide whether concessions offered by PiS go far enough to take off the table a threat to punish Warsaw through a procedure that could go as far as suspending its vote in the bloc.

At the heart of the dispute lie PiS changes to the judiciary that, among other things, give the justice minister powers to replace court presidents. Under amendments now proposed by PiS, the minister would have to consult other judges before deciding on sacking a court head.

Timmermans also said it was positive that a new compulsory retirement age for judges would be the same for men and women. PiS had initially set it at 65 years for men and 60 for women.

“We need to see deeds, these new ideas being put firmly into law. Otherwise no one will believe it,” said one EU diplomat, who also stressed that Timmermans’ boss, Juncker, was very eager to move on from the row.

After insisting the judicial overhaul would make courts more effective and rid them of a communist legacy, Kaczynski has said Poland was paying a “bitter” price to end the row.

He also said he was drawing on lessons from Warsaw’s chief ally in the EU, Hungary’s eurosceptic Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, who has offered some concessions over the years as the EU sounded alarm that he was cracking down on critical media and non-government groups.</s>BRUSSELS: The European Union's executive on Wednesday said it hoped for a deal "very soon" in a fundamental dispute with Poland over judicial independence and sources said mid-May could be a key date.

After two years of a standoff between the bloc's largest ex-communist member and the more liberal founding states, Poland's ruling nationalists brought in a new prime minister at the turn of the year to seek a thaw with Brussels.

The EU has begun to see Poland, where the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party stands accused of imposing more direct government control on the judiciary, as a test case for the bloc.

Poland also stands to lose because some EU members have pushed to make access to EU funding conditional on respecting democratic values such as the rule of law and judicial independence.

Poland is the biggest beneficiary of EU development aid and wants to keep the money flowing to make up for decades of communist malaise.

This year Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has hence held a series of talks with the European Commission aiming for a deal.

After visiting Poland last Monday, the Commission's deputy head, Frans Timmermans, sounded more upbeat than previously over the row, which started after PiS won power in late 2015.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, Timmermans praised the "very, very intensive talks" he had in Warsaw and commended Morawiecki for engaging in "genuine dialogue".

"It is in the interest of all of us that in none of our member states there should be a systemic threat to the rule of law. So we are working constructively in the hope of finding solutions very soon," Timmermans said.

Timmermans, formerly a Dutch foreign minister, will update EU states on Tuesday.

Sources said the decisive moment comes on May 14, when the bloc's European affairs ministers are due to decide whether concessions offered by PiS go far enough to take off the table a threat to punish Warsaw through a procedure that could go as far as suspending its vote in the bloc.

At the heart of the dispute lie PiS changes to the judiciary that, among other things, give the justice minister powers to replace court presidents. Under amendments now proposed by PiS, the minister would have to consult other judges before deciding on sacking a court head.

Timmermans also said it was positive that a new compulsory retirement age for judges would be the same for men and women. PiS had initially set it at 65 years for men and 60 for women.

"We need to see deeds, these new ideas being put firmly into law. Otherwise no one will believe it," said one EU diplomat, who also stressed that Timmermans' boss, Jean-Claude Juncker, was very eager to move on from the row.

Poland's chief power broker and PiS head, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, recently put the chances of a deal with Brussels at 80 percent and said it would come "soon".

After Warsaw insisted the judicial overhaul was needed to make courts more effective and rid them of a communist legacy, he said Poland was paying a "bitter" price to end the row.

He also said he was drawing on lessons from Warsaw's chief ally in the EU, the eurosceptic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has offered some concessions over the years as the EU sounded alarm that he was cracking down on critical media and non-government groups.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s executive on Wednesday said it hoped for a deal “very soon” in a fundamental dispute with Poland over judicial independence and sources said mid-May could be a key date.

After two years of standoff between the bloc’s largest ex-communist member and the more liberal founding states, Poland’s ruling nationalists brought in a new prime minister at the turn of the year to seek a thaw with Brussels.

The EU now sees Poland, where the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party stands accused of imposing more direct government control on the judiciary, as a test case for the bloc.

Warsaw also stands to lose because some EU members, taken aback by the PiS moves, have pushed to make access to future EU funding conditional on respecting democratic values such as the rule of law and judicial independence.

Poland is currently the biggest beneficiary of EU development aid and wants to keep the money flowing to make up for decades of communist malaise.

This year Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has hence held a series of talks with the European Commission aiming for a deal.

The head of PiS and Poland’s chief power broker, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, recently put the chances of a deal with Brussels at 80 percent and said it would come “soon”.

Sources said a special Kaczynski envoy, Adam Bielan, also held back-channel talks in Brussels with Martin Selmayr, the top aide of the head of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.

A senior Polish government source said a deal with Brussels was important for PiS because talks on the next EU budget, from 2021, are now gathering speed, and local elections are due.

PiS rivals have criticized the government for straining ties with the EU, and the source told Reuters an agreement with the bloc “would take away the arguments from the opposition.”

“The coup would be so big that more concession are possible, though of course they would not change the essence of the (court) reforms,” the person said under condition of anonymity. “The society is pro-European.”

After visiting Poland last Monday, the Commission’s deputy head, Frans Timmermans, sounded more upbeat than previously over the row, which started after PiS won power in late 2015.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels on Wednesday, Timmermans praised the “very, very intensive talks” he had in Warsaw and commended Morawiecki for engaging in “genuine dialogue”.

“It is in the interest of all of us that in none of our member states there should be a systemic threat to the rule of law. So we are working constructively in the hope of finding solutions very soon,” Timmermans said.

The former Dutch foreign minister will update other EU states on Tuesday.

Sources said the decisive moment comes on May 14, when the bloc’s European affairs ministers are due to decide whether concessions offered by PiS go far enough to take off the table a threat to punish Warsaw through a procedure that could go as far as suspending its vote in the bloc.

At the heart of the dispute lie PiS changes to the judiciary that, among other things, give the justice minister powers to replace court presidents. Under amendments now proposed by PiS, the minister would have to consult other judges before deciding on sacking a court head.

Timmermans also said it was positive that a new compulsory retirement age for judges would be the same for men and women. PiS had initially set it at 65 years for men and 60 for women.

“We need to see deeds, these new ideas being put firmly into law. Otherwise no one will believe it,” said one EU diplomat, who also stressed that Timmermans’ boss, Juncker, was very eager to move on from the row.

After insisting the judicial overhaul would make courts more effective and rid them of a communist legacy, Kaczynski has said Poland was paying a “bitter” price to end the row.

He also said he was drawing on lessons from Warsaw’s chief ally in the EU, Hungary’s eurosceptic Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, who has offered some concessions over the years as the EU sounded alarm that he was cracking down on critical media and non-government groups.</s>WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A top European Union official said Monday that a change of government in Warsaw has led to better dialogue as the two sides seek to resolve a dispute over an overhaul of the court system in Poland.

However, Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the European Commission — the body that enforces EU laws — said there is still no agreement.

“For too long we didn’t have a dialogue, we just exchanged letters,” Timmermans said.

But a change of government at the start of the year “led to a change of atmosphere in our relationship and it has allowed us to — not that we immediately agree — but it allowed us to have a dialogue, an open and frank dialogue.”

Since Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party won elections in 2015 it has passed laws that give it much greater control over the judicial system. The Commission considers that the changes as a whole violate the democratic principle of separation of powers.

Late last year EU leaders triggered a sanctioning procedure, Article 7, against Poland, a step that could lead the central European country to be stripped of its voting rights.

Officials in Warsaw fear that even if it doesn’t lose its voting rights it could very well lose the massive EU subsidies that the ex-communist country still relies on.

In Warsaw, Timmermans met with top judges and political leaders, including Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz. Those ministers got their jobs as part of the government shakeup, which was aimed at improving dialogue with the EU.</s>WARSAW: Poland's lower house of parliament on Thursday approved changes to judiciary reforms in a bid to soothe European Union concerns that the rule of law in Poland would be weakened.

After a two-year standoff between the bloc's largest ex-communist member and the more liberal founding states, Poland's ruling nationalists have agreed to take some steps back on a court overhaul they see as central to their reform agenda.

The EU's executive signalled on Wednesday that a deal could be reached very soon, meaning the EU would take off the table a threat to punish Warsaw through a procedure that could go as far as suspending its vote in the bloc.

Warsaw also stands to lose because some EU members have pushed to make access to future EU funding conditional on respecting democratic values such as the rule of law and judicial independence.

In Poland, however, Supreme Court chief Malgorzata Gersdorf said in a statement that the concessions offered by PiS were "illusory".

"The proposed changes ... do not serve the purpose of resolving the ongoing dispute over the rule of law. (They) do not address the most controversial issues," she said in a statement.

After Thursday's late-evening vote, the Senate is expected to approve the new rules on Friday. President Andrzej Duda then has 3 weeks to sign them into law or veto them.

Since its election in 2015, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) has said its reforms were crucial to make courts more efficient and fair.

It has argued the judiciary was staffed to a large degree by people seeped in communist-era mentality and power structures, and promised to change that. The EU accused PiS of politicizing courts.

Foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz said on Wednesday that the essence of the reform would not be changed. But PiS is keen for a thaw with Brussels ahead of a series of elections this year and next.

"We want to end this dispute and we want to do it quickly. We want to end the dialogue between the PiS government and the (Commission)," the speaker of the upper house of parliament Stanislaw Karczewski said at a regular briefing on Wednesday.

At the heart of the dispute lie changes to the judiciary that, among other things, would give the justice minister powers to replace court presidents.

Under amendments now proposed by PiS, the minister would have to consult other judges at a court before deciding to sack its head. If their opinion was negative, a national judicial body which is dominated by PiS appointees would then be consulted.

The European Commission also welcomed changes that said a new compulsory retirement age for judges would be the same for men and women. PiS had initially set it at 65 years for men and 60 for women. This would slow down the process of retiring the present judges.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission launched legal action on Saturday against what it sees as Polish government attempts to undermine the independence of judges.

It has given Warsaw a month to respond.

 EU commissioners decided to launch the "infringement procedure" for violating European Union law at a meeting on Wednesday, the first step in a legal process that may end at the bloc's top court, pending publication of Poland's new law.

 A Polish deputy foreign minister said on Saturday the Commission's decision was "unjustified" because the organisation of the legal systems in EU members was up to member states and not EU institutions.

 The Commission is concerned about discretionary power given to Poland's minister of justice to prolong the mandates of judges who reach retirement age, as well as to dismiss and appoint court presidents.

 "The new rules allow the minister of justice to exert influence on individual ordinary judges through, in particular, the vague criteria for the prolongation of their mandates thereby undermining the principle of irremovability of judges," the European Commission said in a statement on Saturday.

 It said a key legal concern was the introduction of different retirement ages - for female judges at 60 and male judges at 65. 

 Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski told state news agency PAP that court presidents in Poland performed mostly administrative functions.

 He also said the new regulation on the retirement of judges was aimed at bringing it into line with a reduction in the retirement age that enters into force in October.

 Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday signed into law the bill on ordinary courts, but, in a move welcomed by Brussels, blocked two other bills that would have empowered the government and parliament to replace Supreme Court judges.

 Poland's eurosceptic, nationalist government has rejected Brussels' objections as "blackmail" and as unjustified criticism, but has said Warsaw is open to talks to resolve the dispute.

 Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans sent a letter on Friday to Poland's foreign minister reiterating an invitation to him and the justice minister to meet in Brussels to relaunch dialogue.

 He had said on Wednesday that the Commission could trigger Article 7, a legal process of suspending Poland's EU voting rights, if Warsaw went ahead with plans to undermine the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.

 The European Commission has given Poland a month to respond to concerns for the rule of law raised by the EU executive in an unprecedented process launched last year.

 

 (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Additional reporting by Marcin Goettig in WARSAW; Editing by Andrew Bolton)</s>Warsaw (AFP) - A top European Commission official on Monday urged Poland to step up efforts at finding a solution to a high-pitched dispute over its controversial judicial reforms, denounced by Brussels as violating the rule of law.

"This is not something that we want to drag out for months and months; we need now to try to come to solutions as quickly as possible," European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told reporters in Warsaw.

Brussels in December triggered Article 7 of the EU treaty over what it sees as "systemic threats" to the independence of the Polish judiciary from the country's rightwing government -- a move that could lead to never-before-used sanctions.

Poland's government, rejecting claims that its reforms dismantle the separation of powers enshrined in EU treaties, has argued the changes are necessary to remove the last vestiges of communism from its justice system.

Poland had three months to reply to the EU's concerns. The foreign ministry said in March that it had met the deadline, without specifying the contents of its response.

A lawmaker from the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, Marek Ast, however, announced that a draft law would be introduced to slightly modify the reforms.

The opposition denounced the changes as merely cosmetic.

"I have sensed a strong will on the side of the Polish government to come to solutions; there is a strong will also on the side of the commission," said Timmermans at a joint press conference with Poland's foreign minister after a day of talks with senior officials.

"But the proof of the pudding will be in the eating and the pudding is not the table yet," he added.

For his part, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz warned that "there is the danger that we will propose solutions and that the European Commission will remain unsatisfied".

Czaputowicz added that "it's too soon today to say for sure whether a compromise will be found and what it will look like."

The stakes are high if Warsaw fails to satisfy Brussels.

It could be stripped of voting rights in the bloc under the Article 7 procedure -- covering systemic threats to the rule of law -- which has never been used against an EU state.

However, Poland's ally Hungary, which has also clashed with Brussels over democracy issues, has vowed to veto any sanction.</s>Poland and the European Union are now engaged in a "genuine dialogue" toward ending a row over Polish reforms Brussels fears undermine judicial independence, a top EU official said Wednesday.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans welcomed talks he had Monday with the right-wing government in Warsaw and said he was "encouraged" by changes to the reforms Poland's parliament was debating.

"I am glad that we are now in a genuine dialogue," Timmermans told a news conference in Brussels.

"I see willingness of the Polish government to find a solution," the Dutchman said. "I hope we can make substantial steps forward in the days and weeks to come."

Brussels on December 20 launched unprecedented legal action against Warsaw over "systemic threats" to the independence of the Polish judiciary, and gave it three months to say how it will comply.

Warsaw handed Brussels a reply on March 20, which the commission is now studying.

Timmermans called for ending the two-year-long standoff "as quickly as possible" when he met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Foreign Minister Jacek Jacek Czaputowicz and others in Warsaw on Monday.

"This is actually for me the first time that in Warsaw we actually went to the concrete discussion about the issues," Timmermans said upon returning to Brussels.

He said the "Polish government has a vision" about how to resolve the differences with Brussels.

He said the goal is to "find solutions so that there is no longer a systemic threat to rule of law in Poland," rejecting the notion of a compromise.

"We have seen that in the Polish parliament over the last days and weeks some changes and amendments have been introduced and I was encouraged by some of them," he said.

For example, he said he understands that the parliament no longer supports a difference in the retirement age between male and female judges.

"If that than becomes law that is already a good step in right direction," Timmermans said.

The stakes are high if Warsaw fails to satisfy Brussels.

It could be stripped of its voting rights in the bloc under the Article 7 procedure of the EU treaty -- covering systemic threats to the rule of law -- which had never been previously used against an EU state.

However, Poland's ally Hungary, which has also clashed with Brussels over democracy issues, has vowed to veto any sanction.
The European Union says it is optimistic a two-year dispute with Poland's ruling Law and Justice over proposed judicial reforms will be resolved by mid May. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has been engaged in talks on the issue with the European Commission.