Last July, the CJEU ruled that Poland must dismantle the Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Chamber, which the court said was illegal under EU law and allowed for the political persecution of judges. Since the country has not yet complied, the Commission imposed a daily €1 million fine, which the government also refused to pay.

“As for today, the penalty amounted to €160 million,” of which the Commission has already deducted €69 million from the money allocated for Poland within the EU budget, the radio has said.

RMF FM learnt that the Commission had sent the letter demanding payment of the next tranche of the penalty covering the 11 January-21 February, at the end of that month.

If Poland still refuses to pay, the Commission will start to charge interest. The next step is deducting the fines from the country’s EU budget allocation.

The direct beneficiaries of EU funds have no reason to fear, though. The money that the Commission deducts comes from the EU money that has already been accounted for with the beneficiaries. Consequently, it is the national budget that loses.’

The text comes from the Euractive website

Full article: Euractive: ‚Poland refuses to pay Commission fines, total continues to rise’