On Tuesday US president Joe Biden will use his second Warsaw address in a year to praise Poland and support it in facing down Russia, with which Warsaw shares a long and harsh history. Last March, weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden paid tribute to Poles “for the depths of their compassion, their willingness to reach out, opening their hearts”. A year on Poland has become an energetic and indispensable Nato and European partner, providing military and humanitarian support as well as providing crucial training for Ukrainian troops.
Many in Poland – and around Europe – will be listening with interest to see if Biden repeats another message of his March 2022 address, framing the Ukraine war as “part of a larger fight for ... essential democratic principles that unite all free people ... and the rule of law”.
Many heard in that a coded message for Poland’s years-long stand-off with Brussels over controversial reforms of courts and other state bodies. Warsaw’s ruling national conservative government insists the changes are essential to sideline the detritus of the communist years. Brussels – and many EU neighbours – see a concerted campaign to politicise the judiciary and make the entire Polish state beholden to the ruling party.
Last week the European Commission took a fateful high-stakes step: referring to the European Court of Justice two Polish court rulings insisting that its national constitution takes precedence over EU law. The referral means Poland’s ruling party cannot expect multibillion loans and grants under the EU’s Covid recovery plan.
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This latest legal challenge is welcome – doubts about the legitimacy of Polish courts are a real threat to the country’s democracy but also to EU cohesion and the single market. But Brussels is irresponsibly late. Acting now – seven months before parliamentary elections – allows the ruling PiS party to frame the move as intervention in its domestic affairs. It will energise the party’s long-term battle against Donald Tusk, the former European Council president who is running to return as a centrist Polish prime minister.