Penalty payments: EU General Court Judgments in Cases T-830/22, T-156/23, and T-1033/23 – Poland v Commission

Wednesday 5th February 2025

EU General Court Judgments in Cases T-830/22 Poland v Commission, T-156/23 Poland v Commission and T-1033/23 Poland v Commission

(Law governing the institutions)

On April 1, 2021, the European Commission brought an action against Poland before the Court of Justice for failure to fulfil obligations (C-204/21 Commission v Poland (Independence and privacy of judges)). The purpose of the action was for the Court to declare that the Polish law of December 20, 2019 amending the organisation of ordinary courts, administrative courts and the Supreme Court infringes various provisions of European Union law.

In the context of this dispute, the Court obliged Poland inter alia to suspend the application of certain provisions of the contested law (Order of the Vice-President of the Court, July 14, 2021 in CaseC-204/21 R – see also Press Release No 127/21).

Having failed to give effect to this interim measure, Poland was ordered on October 27, 2021 (Order of the Vice-President of the Court, October 27, 2021 in CaseC-204/21 R – see also Press Release No 192/21) to pay the Commission a daily penalty payment of €1 million starting from November 3, 2021.

On June 9, 2022, Poland adopted a law to comply with the above-mentioned interim measure imposed by the Court. On April 21, 2023, the Court ruled that this change in legislation made it possible, to a significant extent, to comply with the interim measure. As a result, the amount of the periodic penalty payment was reduced to

€500,000 per day (Order of the Vice-President of the Court, April 21, 2023 in Case C- 204/21 R-RAP – see also Press Release No 65/23).

Since Poland has not paid the sums due in respect of the periodic penalty payment, the Commission has periodically set off that debt against various claims held by that Member State against the European Union.

Poland brought an action before the General Court of the European Union seeking the annulment of a total of six offsetting decisions covering the period from July 15, 2022 to June 4, 2023, i.e. between the entry into force of the Law of June 2022 and the day before the Court’s judgment closing this case.

The sums to be recovered amount to approximately €320,200,000.

Poland also argues that the legislative change which justified the reduction of the periodic penalty payment by half preceded the Court’s decision of April 21, 2023. Thus, from July 15, 2022 to April 20, 2023, the Commission could no longer demand payment of EUR €1million per day. As a result, Poland is seeking partial annulment of the Commission’s decisions, insofar as they relate to 50% of the claims offset for the aforementioned period.

Background Documents T-830/22

Background Documents T-156/23

Background Documents T-1033/23

Mittwoch, 5. Februar 2025

Urteile des Gerichts in den Rechtssachen T‑830/22, T-156/23 und T-1033/23, Polen / Kommission

Polnische Justizreform von 2019 – Verrechnung von Zwangsgeldern

Mit Urteil vom 5. Juni 2023 stellte der Gerichtshof fest, dass die polnische Justizreform von 2019 gegen Unionsrecht verstößt (siehe Pressemitteilung Nr. 89/23).

Während des laufenden Gerichtsverfahrens hatte die Vizepräsidentin des Gerichtshofs mit einstweiliger Anordnung vom 14. Juli 2021 Polen aufgegeben, die polnischen Bestimmungen insbesondere über die Zuständigkeit der Disziplinarkammer des polnischen Obersten Gerichts unverzüglich auszusetzen (siehe communiqués de presse n° 127/21 und n° 180/21).

Da Polen dieser einstweiligen Anordnung nicht nachkam, verhängte der Vizepräsident des Gerichtshofs mit einstweiliger Anordnung vom 27. Oktober 2021 gegen Polen ein tägliches Zwangsgeld in Höhe von 1 Mio. Euro (siehe press release No 192/21).

Mit Beschluss vom 21. April 2023 setzte der Vizepräsident des Gerichtshofs das Zwangsgeld auf 500 000 Euro täglich herab (siehe Pressemitteilung Nr. 65/23).

In den vorliegenden Verfahren ficht Polen vor dem Gericht der EU verschiedene Beschlüsse der Kommission an, mit denen sie Polen darüber informierte hatte, dass sie die Zwangsgelder für bestimmte Zeiträume mit Forderungen Polens gegenüber dem EU-Haushalt verrechnen werde.

Weitere Informationen T-830/22

Weitere Informationen T-156/23

Weitere Informationen T-1033/23