EU Court Imposes Daily Penalty Payment on Poland [1]
On October 27, 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in Case C-204/21 R Commission v. Poland [3] that Poland must pay the European Commission a daily penalty in the amount of €1,000,000. According to a CJEU press release [4], the penalty is the result of Poland’s failure to comply with an interim measures order from the Court dated July 14, 2021. On February 14, 2020, a law relating to the organization of some courts, including the Supreme Court of Poland, entered into force in Poland. The European Commission brought an action for failure to fulfill obligations before the CJEU. During the preliminary procedure, the CJEU granted the Commission’s request and ordered Poland to adopt certain interim measures. Poland has not complied with its obligations under that order. The Vice-President of the CJEU recalled that a member state cannot use its domestic legal rules as a justification for non-compliance with EU law and EU courts’ rulings, and emphasized the necessity of compliance with EU law and its values. Accordingly, the Vice-President ordered “Poland to pay the Commission a periodic penalty payment of €1,000,000 euros per day, from the date on which that order is notified to Poland and until such time as that Member State complies with the obligations arising from the order of 14 July 2021 or, if it fails to do so, until the date of delivery of the final judgment.”